It takes a village (of wine geeks) to host a vertical of JF Mugnier’s Nuits St. Georges 1er Clos de la Maréchale.
What started as chit-chat over Szechuan and Riesling “You know, I have most of the early Marechales”(Randy K) snowballed, stone-soup style. “Oh yeah? I have a bunch of the new ones” said one, “I have the 10” chimed another. “Andrew K can find the elusive 07’, he has skills” said a third. And off we went.
While the Marechale is neither exalted terroir nor a rarified wine, it is honest Burgundy. What IS rare is the opportunity to taste a 16-year vertical, all made under the direction of a single winemaker, Frédéric Mugnier.
It may not be in Beaune, but you can just about see it from there. The Clos is officially a part of Nuits-Saint-Georges, but more precisely it is at the southernmost end of the Premeaux appellation. (Map adapted from the World Atlas of Wine, 8th ed.)
Winemaking
100% Destemmed, gentle handling, whole berry fermentation, ambient yeast, 17-20% new wood. No fining or filtration. Reds apparently spend a year in barrel, then 6 months in stainless steel.
In winemaking, Fred is seeking the absence of Fred. -Peter Wasserman
Fun facts
The Marechale name seems to refer to a Maréchal de Champ (Sergeant major general) – or to the wife of a Maréchal de Champ.
Notice anything odd about the label? When Frédéric got the vineyard back in 2004, they hired someone to put an archway over the vineyard entrance. The metalworker mistakenly installed the “a” in “la Maréchale” backwards. They decided to keep the sign as it was, and the label followed.
The Clos is a true clos, which is to say walled in on all 4 sides. At 9+ hectares, it is the largest monopole in Burgundy (Image adapted from Steen Öhman’s detailed discussion of the vineyard history in Winehog)
The Wines I defer to others to chime in with detailed comments. Jon R was in the house (Rezy13 on CT). I’ll nudge him to post his always-on-point notes to Cellartracker. Label alcohols were 13% unless otherwise stated. In 2015 they start moving upwards.
Flight 1:
04- A bit green, airtime did not really help
05- Stiff and closed, big and deep- sleeping giant?
06- Perfumed nose, cherry fruit with nice balance of acid and tannic grip WOTF
07- Burnt rubber nose and palate, mercaptan reduction apparently.
Flight 2
08- Nice quenching red and black fruit, med body
09- Rubber again, touch of sweet fruit and volatility. This ripe vintage didn’t show well today. 14% Alc.
10- “Precise”, granular tannins, fresh, balanced ripeness and acid. WOTF
11- Eh, the 10’ threw shade on this one
Flight 3: Bonus round -Joel K generously shared a 76’ and an 85 Faiveley from the Clos “in the name of science”. Unlike the Mugnier expressions, Faiveley apparently vinified with whole cluster fermentation.
1976 Faiveley Clos de la Maréchale - Pale brick brown, smells old, tastes of iron.
1985 Faiveley Clos de la Maréchale - Wow. Perfectly balanced acid and tannin, remarkably fresh. WOTN
2010 Marechale blanc - Custard, caramel, wants acid IMO, but not boring.
2015 Marechale blanc - Scuppernong/muscadine grapes, nutty. also wants acid, also not boring.
Flight 4
12- Aromatically open, drier than the 14’. Touch of VA?
13- Corked, unfortunately, 12.5% Alc.
14- Balanced red/black fruit, nice grip, nice everything. WOTF
15- Cotton candy nose, dark ripe fruit, at 13.5% alc., it tastes big
Flight 5
16- Black ripe cherry fruit. Soft and Oregon-y. At 14% alc., it IS big.
17- Nicely balanced primary red fruit, tannic grip, quenching acid. 11-14% label Alc.,(13%?) WOTF
18- Over-the-top brown sugar big. 14.1% alc.
19- Perfumed nose, ripe blackberry fruit. New world-ish. 13.5% Alc.
Themes:
The best of these wines were also the most balanced. They started out with more acid and tannin and may not have been approachable young. Among the Mugniers, the 14’, 17’ and 10’ really stood out. I would be happy to have cases of those. One had the sense of a confident winemaker who has found his stride.
In contrast, the newer ripe-vintage, higher alcohol bottles (09’, 15’, 16’, 18’, 19’) seemed over-the-top, like loud and somewhat uncouth teenagers to their more grounded and balanced predecessors. These taste like the bottled effects of climate change on Burgundy, and a challenge to any producer.
The 85’ Faiveley just had that special ineffable delicacy and depth you hope for in great Burgundy. It yielded the quote of the day:
Good Burgundy balances on the racer’s edge between sweetness and acid. (Joel, original)
It slips down the throat like the enfant Jesus in velvet pants (also Joel, paraphrasing)
And finally, a few between-flight bubbly palate cleansers, all superb. The Cristal was juicy and clean, the Tixier rose’ was dark and grippy, (my personal fizz-of-the-night) and the Courtin was toasty and tart.
