Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier - Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Clos de la Maréchale Monopole 2022 (6L)
Price: $1599.99
| Producer | Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier |
| Country | France |
| Region | Burgundy |
| Varietal | Pinot Noir |
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Sku | 203057 |
| Size | 6L |
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Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Description
The history of the Domaine begins in the 1880s with Frédéric Mugnier’s great-great-grandfather, Francois, who went by the name of Frédéric. He was born in 1826, and at the age of thirty, he established a very successful company based in Dijon that produced aperitifs, absinthes, cassis, liqueurs, and aromatized wine.
Jacques-Frédéric was born in 1923. He trained as a lawyer, but became a banker. He was not a fan of the Dijon milieu. He sold the Mugnier aperitif company to l’Héritier-Guyot, leased the vineyards to Faiveley, and in 1950, he left Burgundy to pursue a banking career in Saudi Arabia. The vineyards were leased to Faiveley for successive nine-year terms. The lease was renewed three times until 1977, when Jacques-Frédéric decided to take the vineyards back, but French law tends to side with the renter, and agricultural leases are extremely difficult not to renew. Jacques-Frédéric had no choice but to negotiate. In exchange for the return of the vineyards in Chambolle, he agreed to a 25-year lease on the Clos de la Maréchale and abandoned his 43-acre parcel of Clos Vougeot to Faiveley. He hired Bernard Clair (Bruno’s father) as manager. Wines were once again made at the domaine, but they were sold nearly in their entirety to négociants, mainly to Jadot. In 1980, Jacques-Frédéric passed away, leaving his widow to continue running the estate from afar, under the management of Bernard Clair.
At the time of his father’s death, Frédéric, who was born in 1955, was finishing his engineering studies. His first job, as an oil engineer, took him to Saudi Arabia. Whenever he could, he would help out for the harvest in Chambolle, but kept only slightly abreast of the domaine’s affairs. In 1985, tired of being expatriated, Frédéric took a sabbatical. “I dropped my bag in Chambolle”, he says “and tried to understand what was going on with the domaine.” He finished the élevage of the 1984s and made the 1985s. In the winter of 1985, he attended the enology school in Beaune. Douglas Danielak, who was working for Becky at the time and now, a winemaker in California, was in the same class as Frédéric, and he was the one who introduced him to Becky.
Because the concept of terroir is more central to Burgundy than any other wine-producing region, the idea of non-interventionist winemaking takes on the aspect of a philosophical, or even mystical quest. Confronted with the revelation of terroir, most Burgundian winemakers want to stay out of the way, and one would suspect that most of them believe that they do, but whether they actually do is another matter entirely.
When Frédéric took over, there were only 4.05 ha. This left him a little time on his hands. Frédéric loved flying, so he obtained a commercial pilot’s license, and until 2000, he would work part time for the French airline, TAT. The additional income also afforded him the financial freedom to make the style of wine that he wanted.
This vineyard is right alongside the route national between Comblanchien and Premeaux. It was owned by the Mugnier family for generations, and it was these fore-fathers that planted the oldest vines in the Clos around World War I. As the family became less involved in the alcohol and wine business, they decided to lease the vineyard long-term to Domaine Flaiveley in 1950. When Frédéric moved to Burgundy and took over the old family house and cellars, the lease was still in effect: it only ended in 2004. Frédéric suddenly went from having 4 to 14 ha of vines, which necessitated enlarging the family cellars.
Notice anything odd about the label? When Frédéric got the vineyard back, they hired someone to put up an archway over the entrance to the vineyard, only the worker mistakenly installed the "a" in "la Maréchale" backwards. It was decided that they would keep the sign as it was, and the label followed.
Burghound: 92 Points
This is the ripest wine in the range yet the dark berry fruit and distinctly earth-suffused nose remains nicely fresh. The succulent, round and caressing but punchy medium-bodied flavors deliver solid length on the mildly warm and rustic finale that is both firm and complex. Some patience will be necessary. This is also very good.
Wine Advocate: 91-93 Points
Aromas of dark berries, ripe cherries, spices and grilled meats introduce the 2022 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale, a medium to full-bodied, layered and youthfully structured wine with a deep core of fruit and chalky tannins that assert themselves gently on the finish.
Vinous: 90 Points
The 2022 Nuits Saint-Georges Clos de la Maréchale 1er Cru has a cohesive, nicely poised bouquet with a mixture of red and black fruit alongside hints of undergrowth. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and much more weight than the 2023 with insistent grip toward the lightly spiced finish. This will give a decade of drinking pleasure.
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