Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Tasted at the Domaine Engel tasting in London, the 2002 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru is still a fabulous wine, consummate 2002 red Burgundy. It has a fragrant and floral bouquet with wilted rose petals and just a hint of peony, all with tip-top focus and almost disarming precision. This is a case of less is more. The palate is medium-bodied and very complex with notes of sour cherry, cranberry and underlying minerals. Like before, there is a wondrous sense of symmetry that makes this Clos de Vougeot effortless, while the finish lingers and never wants to leave. Nor do you want it to. Tasted October 2016.
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Wine Spectator
Dense and backward now, this exhibits red cherry, black currant, mineral and spice aromas and flavors. It's very tightly wound, yet all the elements--bright acidity, firm, ripe tannins and concentrated fruit--are in the right proportions. Don't touch this for five years. Best from 2009 through 2030.
Celebrated as some of the best wine in the universe, red wine from Burgundy, otherwise known as red Burgundy, is Pinot noir. In fact Burgundy is the birthplace of Pinot noir and the source of the planet’s most sensual, delicate, valuable and sought-after Pinot noir wines.
Understanding and enjoying red Burgundy can stay simple, with a basic knowledge of its subregions, become more intricate by dialing down to the villages and vineyards or become a life-long passion, exploring climats (plots of vines), vintages and the post French Revolution land ownership laws. In any case, a fine red Burgundy will display refined nuances of black currant, red fruit, earth, spice, alluring floral aromatics and have great elegance, complexity and longevity.
Most famous, praised and collected of Burgunday are those from the Côte d'Or. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the area now called Côte d'Or was under a warm ocean whose sea floor has, over time, shifted and decomposed into various layers of limestone, sandstone and clay interspersed with ancient fossilized sea creatures. This is what is referred to as the famous escarpment upon which all of the highly sought-after Grands Crus and Premiers Crus vineyards can be found. In other words, from north to south, the best vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux, Nuits-St-Georges, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Volnay follow the path of this ancient sea bed.