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  • Country ranking ?

    1 029
  • Producer ranking ?

    34
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    Slow-braised beef

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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91 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate / Meo's 2006 Clos Vougeot – assembled from numerous lots and parcels picked on different dates – features chocolate-covered dark cherries and charred meat. Densely yet finely tannic, and with a formidable sense of underlying extract and incipient complexity, I don't expect this massive, rich wine to epitomize elegance, but I expect it to prove satisfying and impressive in its style over the coming decade.

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The Story

Is this a wine which expresses the Cistercian rigour which gave birth to it? No, its image is rather that of a refined gentleman: the grapes mature early here, but still give wines of great finesse, with a lace-like texture which lines the palate, and superb length.

Clos de Vougeot is a wine which is always mature, and its texture will always show finesse. Its vinification will aim for more extraction than average (by breaking up the cap, for example) in order to obtain a little more length.

The work of the roots is immense, as they must go very deep to find what they need. How far down do they go, the vines planted in 1920, which represent about one third of the vineyard plot? Another third have reached adulthood, as the vines were planted in the 1960's, the rest being 20 to 30 years old.

We are lucky to be situated at the top of the appellation, at the foot of the château. These vines see more visitors than any others in the Clos! The soil of this vast plot - nearly 3 hectares (7.5 acres), in one piece, has a well-balanced structure, but is not very deep, with only 40cms (16 inches) of topsoil; here the roots must work their way down through the cracks in the rocks.

 

The Clos de Vougeot in the heart of the Côte de Nuits occupies most of the vineyard area belonging to the commune of Vougeot. Vougeot's neighbours are Chambolle-Musigny, Flagey-Échezeaux and Vosne-Romanée. On the slopes at the upper end of the Clos, it abuts on the vineyards of Musigny and Grands-Échezeaux.
Founded around 1110 AD by the monks of nearby Cîteaux, who remained its owners until the Revolution of 1789, the Clos de Vougeot is a Burgundian icon. Its 50.59 hectares have never been broken up and it retains its identity intact within the walls which were built to enclose it 5 centuries ago. Its wines are among the finest of the Grand Cru reds and it has held Grand Cru status since 31 July 1937. 
The château, (which adjoins the cellars and the winery with its giant presses dating back to the 12th and 14th centuries), is built in the Burgundian Renaissance style and is open to visitors. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin holds its meetings or « chapters » here and therefore it is no surprise that the finest food and wine in France is found here.

The diversity of soils within the Clos de Vougeot makes up a sort of needle-point tapestry. At about 255 metres above sea-level, its upper end is gently sloping, with soil only some 40 cm deep, coarse-grained and gravelly over a limestone base. In the centre, at about 250 metres of altitude, the soil is still shallow (45 cm), brown, more clayey, overlying broken limestone. The lower portion (around 240 metres) has a brown soil which is deeper (90 cm) and lies on a layer of marl, rich in clay and alluvium. The rocks belong to the Jurassic period (175 million years BC). 

 

« Here's presence ! » exclaims Hugh Johnson's Wine Guide. Nowadays the vineyard is divided among numerous owners and for this reason no single description can be applied to the reds wines. There are, however, common features : very intense colour ranging from strawberry red to deep garnet ; a suave bouquet, redolent of springtime of blown roses at dawn, of violets in the morning dew, of moist mignonette... Add to these blackberry, raspberry, wild mint, liquorice and truffle... On the palate, the taste is masterful, rich, succulent and mellow, combining elegance and delicacy with meaty fullness. A long finish in the mouth and long aging potential (anything from 10 to 30 years and sometimes even more).

This mouth-filling and noble wine demands to be matched with food that is equally as rich, smooth, opulent, and complex. The emphasis therefore will normally be on musky and marbled meats: forerib of beef, braised lamb, roast veal with mushrooms or a nice game-bird (in sauce or simply roasted). The meat must not be too firm, thus allowing the tannins of the Clos de Vougeot to envelop it without being over-dominant.

Cheeses: preferably soft-centred cheeses such as Époisses, Langres, Soumaintrain, Saint-Florentin, and not forgetting Cîteaux, whose monks first established this famous vineyard.
Serving temperatures: 12 to 13 °C for young wines, 15 to 16 °C for older wines.

 

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Wine Information

This vintage surprises us with its maturity and its depth. It’s what may be described as a classic year, which offers us, across our various terroirs, the full palette of Burgundy’s aromas. Balance is its principal characteristic. The colours are attractive, and after one year in the bottle, the wines remain open and charming. The less prestigious wines are accessible, but the premiers and grands crus will require some ageing, because some of them are impressive. This evolution should take place gradually, with the wines proving very gratifying in a few years’ time. The competition with 2005 has begun.

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Vintage 2006

2006 VINTAGE in Burgundy

The personality of Burgundy wines makes the difference

A charmer. Such is the epithet most frequently employed when Burgundy's newest vintage is evoked. Nearly two months after the grape harvest, and following a year typified by rather fantastical weather, Burgundy is finally catching its breath. The 2006 vintage, a preoccupying one which never allowed an idle moment, both in the vineyards and in the cellars, excels in its whites and surprises with its reds.

"Like the flowering of the vines which was concentrated over only a few days, the grape harvest did not follow its habitual course throughout the vineyards of Burgundy, " confided Michel Baldissini, President of the B.I.V.B. 

Indeed, organizing the grape harvest was no simple undertaking, and choosing the optimal dates was particularly challenging as September's sunshine suddenly ripened grapes which had been previously languishing throughout August. 

Even though a careful sorting of the harvest was required the result is now promising, particularly thanks to the knowledge and expertise of the winemakers. As such, even more than with other years, the choices made in the vineyard and during the vinification process were primordial for the creation of the wines of 2006. 

2006 is a year that has never stopped surprising us, from its metrological conditions through to the wine that has finally been obtained. This wine is still being patiently worked with, and now shows the promise of many pleasant and memorable tastings. 

The white wines
With their seductive nature, these wines promise to be excellent. Supple and fresh, they are already proving to be expressive and fruity in the mouth and boast considerable richness. Their aromas conjure up citrus fruits, white fruits and their flowers, with notes of sugared and stewed fruits at the more elevated degrees. Chablis expresses its typical minerality marvellously. We have noticed a very agreeable uniformity of quality from Chablis to Mâcon, as well as respect paid to the specificity of different wine districts. 

The red wines
Burgundy globally presents high quality wines with nevertheless more uniformity in the Côte de Nuits and in the Auxerre district.
The wine boasts beautiful, intense colours. Indeed, thanks to analyses performed on the grapes to find out their "anthocyanes" quotient (this is the molecule contained in the grapes' skin which confers its red colour) and their extractability, the winemakers benefited from valuable indications which allowed them to choose the techniques best adapted to revealing the grapes' full potential. Just before the grape harvest, the longevity of the tannins was relatively high, but regular tasting during the maceration period allowed for the adjustment of these tannins so that more balanced wines were produced. The careful sorting of the grapes at harvest time, a determining factor this year, undeniably created the parameters of the red wines' quality. 
Some are delicate and elegant, while we have found others to be robust and full-bodied, which indicated a fine capacity for ageing. Their aromas flirt equally with red fruits (raspberry, red currant) as with cherry, spices and cocoa. 

As such, we find a concrete recompense for all the efforts made in the name of quality by the entirety of the players in the Burgundian wine industry.

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Tasting note

color

Medium and Ruby red

ending

Long, Lingering and Vibrant

flavors

Licorice, Voluptuous, Floral, Perfumed and Spice

nose

Complex, Tempting, Volatile and Open

taste

Average in Acidity, Medium tannin, Concentrated, Balanced, Well-structured, Youthful, Medium-bodied, Firm, Fragrant, Focused and Drying tannins

Verdict

Sophisticated and Fine

Written Notes

Bright ruby. Scented, red berries, elegant nose, fruity and fresh. Light floral and scented nose, still a bit tight. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fresh and fruity, rounded, detailed, long finish. 93

  • 93p
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Information

Origin

Beaune , Burgundy

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Below Average

Fake factory

None

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Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru Grand Maupertuis

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Richebourg

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Vosne-Romanée aux Brûlées

Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux

Vosne Romanee Les Brulees

Vosne-Romanée Les Chaumes

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