Joseph Drouhin : Clos de Vougeot Grand cru 2014

Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2014 tasting, Drouhin's 2014 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru is a wine that I might have underestimated from barrel, or perhaps it has just blossomed in bottle. It has a conservative bouquet that needs coaxing from the glass: red cherries, strawberry, scorched earth and just a touch of vanilla from the residual new oak waiting to be subsumed. The palate is medium-bodied with finely tuned tannin and bright red fruit, tensile and poised with a taut, quite linear finish that has class and refinement. This was one of the best in the flight of Clos de Vougeot, and I scored this even higher than Etienne Grivot's. Tasted September 2017.

This is surprisingly open with spice, berry and chocolate aromas and flavors. Medium body. Almond, dark-fruit and Spanish-cedar character. Drink or hold.

80% domaine fruit. 20% whole cluster. 17 months in oak. Greyish crimson. Not very aromatic now. Just a hint of stemmy red cherry. Lively and red-fruited on the palate, really rather gentle, especially after the grands crus above. Dry, lacking fruit depth, especially in the middle. (JH)

Usually sourced from two plots—one halfway up the slope and bordering the Château de la Tour vineyards on two sides, the other at the foot of the climat heading toward Beaune—the 2014 vintage will offer only a limited representation of this cru, as the wine from the lower part was deemed unsatisfactory and sold in bulk. This “half-cuvée” yields a wine that is slightly reductive, dominated by notes of eucalyptus, sweet spices, and clove. On the palate it is broad and dense, driven by ripe fruit that coats powerful tannins, making it a wine built for ageing.