2009 Nuits St. Georges, Clos de la Marechale, Jacques-Frederic Mugnier (750ml)

Vintage: 2009
Format: 750ml
Wine Name: Nuits St. Georges
Vineyard: Clos de la Marechale
Designation: 1er Cru
Appellation: Nuits St. Georges
Producer: Jacques-Frederic Mugnier
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Type: Red
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
Sub-Region: Cote de Nuits
Alcohol:

Tasting note: I tasted several lots of Mugnier’s 2008 Nuits-St.-Georges Clos de la Marechale prior to the final assemblage of their extensive volume (this monopole comprises more than 20 acres) and hence prior to a final determination of the 15-20% that will have been declassified into a cuvee known as “Clos des Fourches.” Scents of incense, brown spices, purple plum, and beetroot follow on a palate of rich ripeness, sumptuous texture, and underlying earthiness. A sense of salted rare meat juices lends irresistible savor to a wine of surprising luxuriance for 2008, yet at the same time surprising finesse and tannic refinement given the performance of its four predecessors. (This site was vinified and bottled by Faiveley for decades.) Around 20% – typical for wines at this address – was raised in new wood, “but it gets less and less each year,” remarked Mugnier with a glint in his eye, “and who knows, maybe one day, there’ll be no new barrels!” (90-91+pts. DS, Wine Advocate)

Tasted: Jun. 2010
Score: 90-91+
Drink: N/A

Tasting note: Bright red-ruby. Black fruits, licorice, game and a whiff of leather on the slightly reduced nose. Sweet but muscular in the middle, with medicinal black cherry and cassis flavors that come across as less refined than Mugnier's examples from Chambolle (duh!). A backward, powerful, tannic wine that should age very slowly. (89-92pts. Stephen Tanzer)

Tasted: Mar./Apr. 2010
Score: 89-92
Drink: N/A

Tasting note: An expressive and attractively fresh nose speaks of ripe and earthy red and blue pinot fruit that is very much in keeping with the tautly muscular and firm middle weight flavors that possess plenty of dry extract which buffers well the moderately dense tannins shaping the mouth coating and lingering finish. (90-92pts, AM Burghound)

Tasted: Jan. 1, 2011
Score: 90-92
Drink: 2017+