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Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
The enigma of this tiny property, sited within an area which typically produces wines of substance, muscle and weight, is its hauntingly sensuous, other worldly but utterly profound quality which reconciles power with grace and seduction and richness with an almost ethereal, perfumed finesse.
The apogee of these qualities is, of course Musigny itself, of which vineyard the Domaine owns 70%, including the totality of Les Petits Musigny; but the interpretation is shared differently by all the Crus from the village of Chambolle-Musigny to the two first growths the Grand Cru Bonnes-Mares and of course the unique Grand Cru Musigny Blanc.
History
The origins of this, one of the oldest domaines in Burgundy, date back to 1450. Since 1528 the estate has been in the hands of the same family; some 20 generations later the stewardship continues with Claire de Causans and Marie de Ladoucette. They themselves are grand-daughters of the legendary Comte Georges de Vogüé who inherited the estate in 1925 and ran it for over 50 years. His daughter Elisabeth, Baronne Bertrand de Ladoucette, managed the estate from the early 1980's until 2002, and it was under her tenure that was established the new dynamic team that exists today - Eric Bourgogne, Chef de Culture in 1996, Francois Millet, Maitre de Chai and Oenologue in 1986, and Jean-Luc Pépin, Sales Director in 1988.
Vineyards & Winemaking
The fitfully poetic Francois Millet, Maitre de Chai and Oenologue, is a man of few words and possesses a sometimes sphinx like inscrutability when
describing his wines. He will agree with Jean-Luc Pépin and Eric Bourgogne, chef de Culture, that strict husbandry of the vineyards and consequent low yields are the keys to quality, but is rarely drawn on how their impeccable ingredients are translated. He will argue quite rightly, that each vintage is completely different and that a formulaic approach is an arrogance.
The team will therefore be quite open-minded in the vineyard and in areas such as de-stalking maceration and fermentation, as well as the percentage of new oak, length of maturation before bottling and whether or not to rack or fine. That this flexibility applies to each cru is even more remarkable. What the whole team is united on however is the search for the purest translation of the vineyard ingredients.
The Wines
It is generally acknowledged that the team, put in place in the mid 1980's by Elisabeth de Ladoucette, and now under the direction of her two daughters, Claire de Causans and Marie de Ladoucette, has, in the words of Clive Coates MW, not put a foot wrong.
The Bourgogne Blanc comes from the Musigny Blanc Grand Cru - a very rare wine of depth, power and concentration. Vines with an average age of 14 years are still considered by the Domaine as too young to be called Grand Cru. As a Bourgogne Blanc it is simply astonishing, with a focus surely not so far away from the definition and clarity that will allow for Grand Cru status once more.
The Chambolle-Musigny Villages combines supple delicacy with strength. The Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru offers greater profundity and strength but with a generosity and plumpness too. The 1er Cru les Amoureuses, regarded by many as the equal of a Grand Cru, has greater intensity and the silky seductive perfumed quality that its name suggests. It lies east of and adjacent to Musigny.
Bonness-Mares is explosive by contrast; more masculine in style, powerful long-lived and acquiring a sweet velvety richness with age. And then there is the Musigny Vieilles Vignes: whose brilliant ruby colour, concentration, intensity, extraordinary balance of sweet fruit, structure and acidity and above all its unearthly harmony, makes this small vineyard amongst the most prized of all great burgundies and indeed of all great wines.
Holdings
Bourgogne Blanc
Chambolle-Musigny Villages
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru
Soil: South - Limestone/terre rouge
