2012 Clos Vougeot

Good bright ruby-red. Blackberry, licorice and mint aromas suggest a tight, lean wine. Juicy, savory and locked-up on the palate, with piquant minerality accenting the flavors of black cherry, licorice and spices. Shows an enticing touch of sweetness but quite backward and tannic today. Gublin notes that this wine will be racked only once, two or three months prior to the bottling, which is unlikely to be done until next July.

The 2012 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, which tends to be the cru that is bottled the latest at Jacques Prieur, comes from a parcel just below the Chateau de la Tour. It has an elegant bouquet with dark cherries, blackberry and dried violet developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannins on the entry. The clay really comes through towards the powerful, bullish finish that lends it the length if not quite the finesse of other Clos de Vougeots this vintage. Several years ago, mere weeks after it was announced that I would be working for this very publication, I visited Domaine Jacques Prieur to taste their 2005s unaware that the authorities had erroneously issued a letter declaring that I was the official reviewer rather than Mr. Schildknecht. I guess they were just six years premature. Nevertheless, I have tracked the progress of this domaine owned by the Labruyere family, who also preside over Chateau Rouget in Pomerol and their original estate in Moulin-a-Vent. Edouard Labruyere was out in Asia when I visited on a cold Sunday morning, so it was oenologist Nadine Gublot who guided me through their portfolio that had been curtailed by the inclement weather. “It was not an easy growing season,” Nadine explained in her lovely thick German accent. “The weather was like 2013, not very bad, not very fine, sunny and rainy with a constant pressure of mildew at the beginning of the season and oidium towards the end. We had to work very hard in the vineyard to preserve the healthy conditions. It is a low yielding vintage because June was fresh and overcast so the flowering was very bad for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. On the positive side, as the weather was ‘comme ci comme ca’ the quantity of berries was small and the berries were spaced out, so it was like Mother Nature equaling everything out. Average yields came in at around 20 hectoliters per hectare; Volnay particularly affected by the bad flowering and hail at the end of June, so they produced only around 10 hectoliters per hectare. All the wines are still in barrels on the lees and not racked. Malo-lactic was very late, some just finishing one month ago (October) for the whites due to the cold weather and also because of cold natural temperatures in the cellar as I never warm it. (Consequently some of the whites are missing from this report.) There was no batonnage, which I stopped in 2008 because the grapes are naturally rich. The wines are a big surprise. At the beginning of the harvest, I never thought we would produce so bright wines, especially for the reds. We did not need any chaptalization. I am surprised by the fruit, texture, balance and freshness. I could never imagine during that summer that we would have produced such beautiful wines.” Reader will be aware that some of the usual cuvees are missing this year. Nadine had to make the difficult decision of blending severely affected vineyards together, especially in Volnay and Chambertin. “As the yield and crop were very low, we have a very small quantity in Champans and Clos des Santenots. Usually we have three premier crus. Volnay Santenots comes from the young vines of Clos des Santenots around 17 years old. We decided to make two Volnays in 2012 after vinifying and maturing them separately: Volnay 1er Cru that will be a blend of Champans and the young vines of Santenots and the Volnay 1er Santenots from Clos des Santenots plus a small part of the old vines in Santenots. In Chambertin we have four different parcels: two parcels of young vines of 17 years old and two parcels that are 50-years old that are vinified, matured and bottled separately. They form the Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru and Chambertin Grand Cru respectively. At the moment, I don’t know whether we will bottle a Chambertin Grand Cru.” Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700 and through Berry Brothers & Rudd (UK)