Pinot Noir

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The older vines in de Vogüé’s extensive 7.2ha in Musigny date back to 1953 and make a wine that’s considerably weightier than the young-vine cuvée. This is very deep and intense in colour, exhibiting layers of dark bramble and black cherry flavours and a backbone of precise, chalky, mouthwatering acidity. A wine that needs time to digest its 35% new wood. Drinking Window 2026 - 2037Decanter | 96 DECThe 2017 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru is complex and well defined on the nose, where touches of iodine and wild heather infuse the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly grainy texture; notes of black truffle and fresh fig complement a fruit profile that welcomes more red fruit toward the finish. Hints of white pepper and sage linger on the aftertaste. This is certainly beginning to close up in bottle, so allow a decade if you can for this Musigny to show what it is capable of.Vinous Media | 95 VMAn openly exotic nose offers glimpses of black cherry liqueur, ginger, Asian-style tea, sandalwood and orange peel. The tighter and much more mineral-driven big-bodied flavors also possess evident muscle on the powerful and dense yet beautifully refined finish that goes on and on. This is also a bit less structured though with that said, this is going to need at least 15 years to reach its apogee. In a word, terrific.Burghound | 94 BHThe 2017 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru is showing very well indeed, unfurling in the glass with aromas of cherries, rose petal, warm spices and orange rind, framed by creamy new wood. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and velvety, with the greatest depth and dimension of any wine in the cellar, displaying excellent energy and completeness, and distinguished above all by striking length on the finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-95 RP(Musigny “Vieilles Vignes”- Domaine de Comte de Georges de Vogüé) The 2017 Musigny old vine bottling was quite hunkered down after its recent racking, but though it was not as expressive as the Bonnes-Mares on this particular day, it showed good underlying soil signature and seemed to only be in need of more time out from the racking for everything to snap back into proper place. The wine certainly has lovely fruit elements in its mix of sappy black cherries and plums, complex soil tones, woodsmoke, gamebird, violets and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nascently complex, with a good sappy core of black fruit, fine-grained tannins and lovely length and grip on the refined and quite soil-driven finish. This wine is not as precise as is customary (and which has to be a reflection of the post-racking period in which I tasted it), but there are really good elements here and if they all fall back into place properly, it will be a lovely wine. (Drink between 2030-2080)John Gilman | 93-95 JG

The 2018 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru is even darker than the Bonnes-Mares. It has a spectacular bouquet of intense black fruit, blueberries and shucked oyster shells, the mineralité heightened over the Bonnes-Mares and lending a great deal of precision. The palate is medium-bodied with blueberry, boysenberry and black currant fruit, extraordinary tension, razor-sharp acidity and a dash of white pepper on the crystalline finish. One of the finest Musignys I have tasted from barrel at de Vogüé.Vinous Media | 97-99 VM(Domaine Comte de Vogüé Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru Red) A ripe and super-fresh nose offers up notes of black raspberry, plum liqueur, Asian-style tea and a whiff of incense. The racy, intense and mineral-driven big-bodied flavors retain outstanding delineation as well as an abundance of palate soaking dry extract before delivering stunningly good length where an interesting hint of citrus character in the form of mandarin orange appears. This incredibly powerful effort is both classy and highly complex and like the Bonnes Mares, is a wine that will live for decades. With that said, it’s not so backward and compact to preclude it being approachable after only 10 to 12 years. A knockout by any standard. (Drink starting 2043)Burghound | 97 BHAll the vines that are used to produce this extensive cuvée of Musigny are over 25 years’ old, so it always has good concentration. But in 2018, it’s an especially big, dense, powerful wine with masses of inky colour, assertive one-third new oak, plenty of plush bramble and black cherry fruit, undertones of sweet spices and liquorice and a chalky flourish. Needs time. Drinking Window 2026 - 2033.Decanter | 95 DEC(Musigny “Vieilles Vignes”- Domaine de Comte de Georges de Vogüé) The 2018 Musigny Vieilles Vignes was also in fine form at the time of my visit, as the racking for this cuvée was just starting and there were plenty of untouched casks to choose from for sampling. The wine is very deep and still very primary on both the nose and palate, with the bouquet wafting from the glass in a sappy blend of black cherries, sweet dark berries, dark chocolate, gamebird, woodsmoke, soil and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off excellent mid-palate depth of sappy fruit, with good mineral drive, ripe, seamless and buried tannins, fine focus and grip and a long, focused and classy finish. All this needs is time in the cellar! (Drink between 2038-2085).John Gilman | 95 JG

(Domaine Comte de Vogüé Bonnes Mares Grand Cru Red) This is very deeply colored, in fact so much so that it would make a young port blush! The ripe aromas of red and blue berries, spice and earth display a mentholated top note. The dense, powerful and mouth coating broad-shouldered flavors possess evident muscularity while delivering excellent length on the youthfully austere finale. This isn’t refined, indeed it’s borderline rustic, but it’s a dramatically impressive and very firmly structured wine that should live for decades. (Drink starting 2038)Burghound | 95 BH(Bonnes-Mares- Domaine de Comte de Georges de Vogüé) The 2018 Bonnes-Mares from Domaine de Comte de Vogüé had not yet been racked, so it was the first wine in the cellar where one could really see the size and shape of the vintage here in a proper perspective. This is going to be a lovely wine, as it delivers a fine aromatic constellation of black plums, black cherries, blueberries, dark soil tones, venison, woodsmoke and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with lovely sappiness and mineral undertow, fine-grained tannins and a long, youthful and vibrant finish. This reminds me a bit of the 1993 Bonnes-Mares here, though I am not sure why, as 1993 was a cooler year and 2018 is a solar vintage, but there are some structural similarities and the same sappy, black fruity personality that I find attractive in both vintages. The 2018 Bonnes-Mares will take plenty of time to blossom, but it is superb potential. (Drink between 2035-2085).John Gilman | 94 JGThe 2018 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is noticeably deeper in colour than the five other 2018 Bonnes-Mares in this line-up. Here, the dark cherry fruit seems a little cooked with faint tinned prune and raisin notes in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannins, firm grip, dusky black fruit laced with black pepper, touches of thyme and sage. There is energy here, but similar to other Bonnes-Mares, the tannins seem to just poke out on the brawny and monolithic finish. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.Vinous Media | 90 VM