2018 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru La Vougeraie

Two plots picked and vinified apart, blended after elevage. This has as fine a bouquet as I can remember from the Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot. The colour has medium density, while the nose brings a sensuality which is not often present. So too on the palate there is a smoothness of fruit overlying the native firm structural blocks. This shows great promise. Tasted: November 2019

The 2018 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru is promising, revealing lovely aromas of red cherries and raspberries mingled with rose petals and peonies, with little hint of the savory nuances to come. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, structurally refined but introverted, exhibiting fine balance and a precise finish. While it needs some time to round out, it clearly has fine potential.

The 2018 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru comes from two parcels that are picked three or four days apart and only blended together just prior to bottling. Containing 65% whole-bunch fruit, it has a stemmy, almost Dujac-like bouquet that feels well defined albeit not to everyone's taste. The well-balanced, medium-bodied palate offers fine-grained tannin, a fine line of acidity and dark cherries mixed with truffle and cedar toward the precise if not overly concentrated finish. Fine.

Floral and bright cherry, blueberry and blackberry flavors are framed by sandalwood and toasty oak elements. A mix of elegance and power, the aromas should open up in a few years and more complexity emerge on the palate. Fine iron-tinged length.

In 2018 the harvest began on September 5th. The bunches were very healthy, and nearly 70% of the grapes were fermented as whole clusters after a five-day cold soak before fermentation. Extraction was very gentle, with no pigeage, simply a gentle pumping over of the juice. The result has abundant aromas of ripe blackberry and plum fruit, still marked by the 18-month maturation in cask, 35% new. The overwhelming sensation is one of sweet black fruit buttressed by generous alcohol and abundant, silky tannins on the palate.