Comte Georges de Vogüé is a very renowned Burgundy producer in the village of Chambolle-Musigny with 12.5 ha of vineyards, of which 9.9 ha is located in the grand cru vineyards Musigny and Bonnes-Mares. With 7.2 hectares de Vogüé is by far the largest vineyard owner in Musigny, the AOP that usually give rise to the most elegant and perfumed red grand cru wines of Burgundy. In addition, their premier cru holding includes 0.56 ha Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses, which is one of a handful of premier cru vineyards many think ought to be grand crus. The average “level” of their vineyard holdings is thus very high.

A peculiar characteristic of de Vogüé’s Musigny is that they call it Musigny Vieilles Vignes – “old vines” – and for this wine they used only vines that are 25 years old and more. The average age is usually around 40 years. Vines that are under the age of 25 are down graded to premier cru level and the Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru is sold for about a third of the price of the Musigny.

Their “regular” Chambolle-Musigny comes from several small parcels of premier cru vineyards. They have for a long time produced quite a lot of Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru, but some of the patches that have been used for it are reaching the age when they can now be used in Musigny Vieilles Vignes. The amount of the premier cru wine is therefore going to fall.

Vogüé’s Swedish wine importer (Tryffelsvinet) arrange every year for a visit by the marketing manager Jean-Luc Pépin and a tasting. Last fall, it was time to taste the 2014vintage, which for reds is a really good vintage in classic style, generally tending towards the cool side but still with good fruit. We also got to taste one wine from an older vintage to compare.

Red wines

Chambolle-Musigny 2014 Comte Georges de Vogüé

~100 euro (price estimates based on Swedish retail prices).

Classic and elegant aroma of cherries, some strawberries, spices and subtle liquorice-ton, slightly floral. The taste of cherries, cranberries, lingonberries, mineral, spice tone, good acidity, some tannins, long finish with lingonberries and minerals. Elegant and classical, but young, 90 (+) p.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru 2014 Comte Georges de Vogüé

~160 euro

Floral, elegant, classic scent of cherries, some strawberries, some orange peel and distinct mineral tone. The taste has cherries, good concentration, combined with an elegant lightness, distinct mineral tone, good acidity, some tannins of very supple character. Young, 92+ p.

The premier cru wine in this vintage is not really darker in the fruit or more powerful in style than the village wine from Chambolle-Musigny, but has more mineral notes and elegance.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru 2002 Comte Georges de Vogüé

Very elegant aromas with strawberry, floral and perfumed tones, some truffle, slightly minty tone and minerals. Surprisingly, young nose, hardly any developed tones! The flavour has strawberries, cherries, rich mineral tones, good acidity, smooth tannins and a long finish with minerals. A very elegant wine that is still on the young side in both aroma and taste, 93 p.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Amoureuses 2014 Comte Georges de Vogüé

~330 euro (only on-trade)

Elegant aromas of cherries, spices, discreet tones of tar, truffles and slightly mineral. The taste has cherries, cranberries, minerals, spices, good concentration, quite obvious tannins (but with more suppleness given some time in the glass), really long aftertaste of cherries, cranberries and minerals. Good concentration combined with an elegant lightness, distinct mineral tone, good acidity, some tannins of very smooth character. Young, needs time, 93+ p?

Les Amoureuses is a little darker and has darker fruit character than the premier cru wine, and is a bit more closed and therefore more difficult to assess now.

Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2014 Comte Georges de Vogüé

~330 euro (only on-trade)

Very elegant aromas with a distinct berry character of cherries and strawberries, floral notes, some tar and minerals. The taste has cherries, distinct tannins, minerals, spices, long aftertaste with spices and some astringency. A wine in a powerful style where the nose and the taste are in different phases of evolution. Young taste, need time, 93+ p?

Bonnes-Mares is more open on the nose and has more berry fruit in the style than Les Amoureuses, but is difficult to assess it at this stage since the palate is closed.

Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru 2014 Comte Georges de Vogüé

~500 euro

Powerful nose with great elegance and tones of cherries, some orange zest, mineral and floral notes. The taste has cherries, cranberries, rich concentration combined with a very smooth and silky taste, rich mineral tone, fairly distinct and at the same time closed tannins, long aftertaste of cherries and minerals. Young, 95+ p

This wine is the most powerful of them all, but powerful in the very elegant way a Musigny is, without the power coming from harsh tannins. The wine has great aging potential, but is nevertheless more accessible than Les Amoureuses and Bonnes-Mares. It tends to be that way in many vintages, thanks to the generous and smooth flavour, and 2014 is no exception.

De Vogüés Musigny Vieilles Vignes shows in this vintage yet again that it is one of the great wines of Burgundy!

White wine

Musigny is the only grand cru vineyard in the Cote de Nuits, the northern part of Côte d’Or, which is allowed to produce both red and white wines. de Vogüé has long been the only producer who grows chardonnay in Musigny, and the dedicate 0.6 hectares of the vineyard for this variety.

They follow the same philosophy for its white wine as for its red Musigny so they use only the grand cru designation for wines from vines that have reached a certain age. Since the entire holding of chardonnay was planted in the 1980s and 1990s for a long time there has been no Musigny Blanc produced, instead the wine has been sold under the appellation Bourgogne Blanc. It is not allowed to produce white Chambolle-Musigny, so therefore the wine had been de-classified all the way down to the regional wine, rather than staying at premier cru level as the red Musigny wine from young vines.

This wine has been impressive for several years now, so probably the time is not so far away when Musigny Blanc will be written on the label. Incidentally, 2014 counts as a really great vintage for the white wines of Burgundy, even better than for the red.

Bourgogne Blanc 2014 Comte Georges de Vogüé

~250 euro (trade only)

Aromas of ripe yellow fruit, citrus, peach, green and yellow apples, pear, white flowers, some spices, subtle vanilla and minerals. Full bodied flavour with pears, citrus, minerals, good acidity and a fruity taste with a long mineral tone. Good polish and elegance. Relatively young, but fairly accessible now, 93 p.

This wine was tasted next Bonneau du Martray’s Corton-Charlemagne (read more about that in the article on Bonneau du Martray’s wines). Compared to that wine, which is always a bit of an angular grand cru, this wine is considerably fruitier and more powerful, with more mature grape character.

Tomas Eriksson is one of the contributors on BKWine Magazine. He is active in the wine tasting association AuZone in Stockholm and in Munskänkarna, where he sometimes holds wine courses. Tomas also runs a blog called Vintomas.

Read more in our previous article: Top quality Burgundy from Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé & Domaine Bonneau du Martray.

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