2006 Clos Vougeot

Bright, deep red. Lovely lift and medicinal reserve to the aromas of black cherry, smoke and minerals. Wonderfully vibrant in the mouth, with a penetrating minerality giving energy and perfume to the dark fruit flavors. Less floral than, say, the example from Anne Gros but dense, sappy and fine-grained. Finishes very long, with the tannins dusting the gums.

Good bright, dark red. The most complex nose of these 2006s: black cherry, smoke, minerals, ginger, game and flowers. Then lush and dense in the mouth, showing very good definition to the flavors of cherry, plum and black pepper. Finishes long, bright and aromatic, with a fine dusting of tannins and a suggestion of mint.

The Mugneret 2006 Clos Vougeot – which I was last able to taste assembled from tank just prior to bottling – smells of cherry jam, smoky black tea, coconut, and herbal concentrate. Sappy and bright on the palate even as it retains a confiture-like sense of sweetness that is buttressed by notes of new wood, this is the most voluminous (at 13.8% alcohol) and structured of the 2006s at its address. I would plan to give it 3-4 years before enjoying it over the following 8-10. ||The Mugneret sisters engaged in serious triage and crop-dropping in their vineyards in early September, obviating, they claimed, the need for more than modest additional culling on sorting tables. They report having had to be vigilant during fermentations that had a natural tendency to run warm and fast, and gentle in extraction in order to preserve the naturally forward fruitiness which they said was immediately evident from the aromas when fermentation commenced, and which reminds them most of 1997, though ultimately with more structure. Like many growers, the Mugnerets were surprised at the levels of potential alcohol reached by their crop given the meteorological conditions, but they stuck by their regimen of light chaptalization in order to, they insist, beneficially extend the fermentations – an approach which at this address no one I know has ever accused of diminishing potential elegance, or clarity of fruit. "Chaptalization has an unjustly bad name," adds Marie-Christine Mugneret to reinforce their point. (Incidentally, although there have been plans to legally reconstitute this estate under a single name, each of its appellations continues for now to belong to either Domaine Georges Mugneret or Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, a distinction I have intentionally blurred in referring to the wines of this cellar by the hybrid name "Georges Mugneret Gibourg" which its proprietors hope will eventually become official.)||A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93 Wine Advocate.December, 2009