Hello chaps,
‘Nuits from the house of Chambolle’ for those whose French is at a similar schoolboy level to mine; since being told it the ‘x de chez x’ construction has served me in countless encounters with French types.
This Mugnier Nuits was very tasty and buxom, but not really terribly Nuits-like. Am I concerned? Not massively, it was (and is currently continuing to be) a lovely drink. The note:
NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES ‘CLOS DES FOURCHES’ 2007, DOMAINE JAQUES-FREDERIC MUGNIER
Lovely ripe cherry fruit here on this juicy, fleshy nose. It is not that sophisticated but quite babelicious and there is most definitely a place for tits out Pinot particularly when the winemaker is not charging the earth for them. I suppose there are hints of minerality also present on this nose but it is really the fruit which is tickling my aesthetes. The palate is extremely voluptuous for a village wine – well upholstered with luscious fruit and polished tannin. This is most certainly a really callipygian example of Nuits which makes me wonder about how ‘Nuits’ it really is; should we accept Nuits de chez Chambolle as a valid expression of the genre or demand them all to be a tad more butch than this. I’m not completely sure, but I am very happy relax my normally stringent standards and enjoy this scrumptiously succulent bottle of Burgundy.
Cheers,
David.
Last November at Domaine Michelle et Patrice Rion, there was a tasting for wine journalists of wines from the Clos and monopoles of Prémeaux-Prissey in order to demonstrate the characteristics of this relatively little-known and under-appreciated sector of Nuits-St-Georges. Mugnier’s wines not only did not seem out of place (although they certainly had their own style), they were in my estimation and that of others with whom I discussed the matter among the very best wines there (both in red and in white). In contrast, when you taste the wines at Mugnier’s estate in the context of his other wines from Chambolle, they do stand out, and in fact as of last year, M. Mugnier is still not sure where to place the wines in the order of tasting…
As a general rule, producers make wines in the style of their base village, and when they have vines in a different village, that “home” conception of wine continues. So, for example, Vosne producers who have vineyards in Nuits often make a rounder, more sensual Nuits than Nuits producers who own in the same vineyards, and vice versa for Nuits producers who have vineyards in Vosne.
Well,
I know this wine from cask.
3 points:
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this is the 2nd wine of “Clos de la Marechale 1er Cru” - it is designated village but is actually a negative selection from the 1er Cru (young vines etc.)
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Freddy Mugnier is (has been) a producer in and of Chambolle-M für almost 20 years … so it should be not uninspected that his Nuits are … well … a bt Chambolle in style
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2007 is a very charming foreward feminine vintage, just the opposite of the usual masculine Nuits-style …
All the three points above may lead to a wine that isn´t completely typical Nuits in most peoples imagination … when I think of the fact that I prefer Nuits after 20-30 years of age … probably to the benefit …
Well, no problem to buy Gouges instead …
