MONGEARD MUGNERET ECHÉZEAUX GRAND CRU 2015

Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret
Echézeaux Grand Cru 2015

“This is extremely ripe yet manages to remain fresh with its well-layered nose of wood, mocha, black raspberry liqueur, Asian-style tea and wide range of spice elements. There is a sleek, indeed even satiny mouth feel to the imposingly concentrated big-bodied flavors that are opulent yet focused, all wrapped in a strikingly long, balanced and complex finale. Impressive and worth checking out. (1/2017)” 91-94/100, Burghound

VARIETIES: 100% Pinot Noir (According to the quality of the vintage), Average age of vines 25 to 60 years
REGION: Echézeaux Grand Cru, Côte de Nuits, Côte-d’Or, Burgundy, France
AGEING: Aging is carried out in oak barrels, 60 to 80% of which are new oak barrels
GUARDING POTENTIAL: Enjoy now or will cellar well up to 25 years
SERVE: Serve at 14 – 16ºC
FITS TO: Bœuf à la Bourguignonne / Carré d’agneau Rôti / Coq au Vin / French cheeses like Époisses de Bourgogne, Bleu de Gex or Munster Géromé AOP are also excellent companions
CRITICS SCORES: 91-94/BH
VIVINO: Average 4.5 ★★★★✰

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Overview | Of | Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret

The Mongeard family origins date back to 1620 in the commune of VosneRomanée in Burgundy. Situated in between Dijon and Beaune, the Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret was renamed in 1945 after the marriage of Eugène Mongeard and Edmée Mugneret which allowed both families vineyards to combine, thus increasing the size of their joint domaine. Their son Jean began bottling wine for the first time and released it commercially under the new name. Jean also began selling estate fruit to high-end producers such as Marquis d’Angerville and Henri Gouges.

Today the estate has about 75 acres of land in around 35 different vineyards including four grand cru parcels: Échezeaux, Grands Échezeaux, Clos de Vougeot and Richebourg. With a specialty in producing high-end examples of the Pinot Noir grape vartiety, the domaine also releases some Chardonnay and Aligoté white wines. Vineyards are 45-50 years old on average and are grafted with superior Pinot Noir clones. Yields have been a mere 2.9 tons per acre. In the vineyards, the domaine has employed the philosophy of lutte raisonée since the early 2000s. Vines are pruned Guyot, and a green harvest takes place. Harvest is completely by hand. Grapes are destemmed, except for Richebourg for which about onethird of the stems are retained. The crop is then placed in the vats for alcoholic fermentation. Equiped with a very sensitive sulphate measuring pump, Vincent practices a traditional and moderate sulphating. Cool maceration of between 4-5 days. Generally speaking, the Premiers Crus receive about 40-50% new oak and the Grands Crus receive about 60-70% new oak. The oak barrels are from L’Allier, La Nièvre, and Les Vosges, and the domaine requests woods that are dried in open air and barriques that are slightly burnt. After a couple of months in the barrels, the wine goes through malolactic fermentation. In the spring, racking allows for the removal of the fine sediments. A second racking during the following winter. After a total of 18-22 months of aging, the wines are bottled without any filtration, only one fining could be necessary. The bottles further aged in the cellars before being released.

Echezeaux wines are a clear garnet or ruby red, the exact hue often varying considerably. When young these wines have vanilla-scented, smoky, woody aromas or a hint of torrefaction, combined with suggestions of red fruits and spices. After a few years the nose becomes vegetable or animal, with scents of mushrooms, truffles or woodland undergrowth. The great complexity of the bouquet makes this a wine both rich and feminine; fat and mellow, with fine, delicate and fairly supple tannins. In the mouth the attack is spirited, the balance pleasant and there is a succulent fullness with aromas of red fruits.