THANK YOU TO OUR GRAPE PICKERS! The beauty of Vougeot grapes Ladu DOMAINE DElettre LA VOUGERAIE N°59. 2019 HARVEST SPECIAL The Spirit of the Domaine ♦ 2019, The Clos Blanc de Vougeot was picked A FAST BUT in five batches this year according INTENSE HARVEST! to the different ripening times, depending primarily on the age of ♦ THE BEAUTY OF the vineyards. And you just have to see VOUGEOT GRAPES Marie-Aleth’s smile when she talks about “her” vines, the ones she has looked after on the estate for 19 years. ♦ THE INFLUENCE This means she has done all Small but perfectly formed, the 2019 harvest! The excessive heat and OF STEMS IN THE HARVEST dryness have unfortunately hit yield hard! Lightning harvesting, the different jobs: training, tying-up, IN THE UN-DESTEMMED with both Côtes ripening at the same time. GRAPES pruning, attaching, desuckering, fixing contents ♦ and pinching back. The only jobs At this stage the vats, still warm, reveal a deep red colour. The she doesn’t do as a “tâcheronne” fermenting whites give off delicate perfumes. Everything is right ♦ THANK YOU TO are the ones reserved for the domaine’s Thanks to all of you, our hardy pickers and cellarmen, course (Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Italy to make aged wines but after the abundance of 2018, 2019 will OUR GRAPE PICKERS! specialist winegrowers. seasonal workers without whom the 2019 harvest and Spain) as well as Africa (Morocco and Gabon), yield low volumes: excellent ripening, very healthy, concentrated, well-balanced grapes with good acidity levels, thick black skins and She works not only with the Clos Blanc would not have been possible! You came from every speaking a common language, that of the grape harvest. a high proportion un-destemmed. We look forward to ageing to ♦ THE 2019 but also with other vines corner of France, especially the north (our dear, loyal Thank you and bravo to all of you! confirm these enthusiastic first impressions. Meanwhile, let’s take WINEMAKING TEAM in the same area: the Clos Vougeot “Ch’tis”), but also from Canada (Quebec), Europe of a look behind the scenes of what is already a promising vintage. and Musigny grands crus. ♦ These vines, meticulously and lovingly The 2019 winemaking team The Boisset family and the Domaine de la Vougeraie team cared for, have this year produced Erwann, Loïc, Julie, Ludovic, Lorenzo, Daniele, fine grapes, particularly healthy - not to Constantin, Matéo, Valentin, Edoardo, Paul, Jean-Luc, All Domaine de la Vougeraie wines are certified organic say perfect - and also, notably, the best Camille, Sylvie, Antoine and Karine. yields. Her experience of pruning, THIS SEASON’S WINES For several years now we have explained the day- which is everything but the basic to-day story of the beautiful adventure of the grape task is certainly a key factor. harvest, which is never the same but never altogether Volnay The terroir also plays its part, but Gevrey-Chambertin different. You can find a description of this busy time 2013 Côte de Beaune Les Evocelles human intervention, however discreet, in the “Letters” section of our website. A well-structured, Les Pierres Blanches 2017 elegant and very fruity wine, Blanc 2017 remains crucial to the good growth thoroughly fine. A highly complex wine with of the plant, and this is even more true Delicious with A crisp wine with hints a fine, silky tannin structure a coarse game pâté, of citrus fruit and a fine tension. and dark fruit aromas. in these years of difficult DOMAINE DE LA VOUGERAIE - 7 bis, rue de l’Eglise - 21700 PREMEAUX-PRISSEY an autumn salad It would go well with pike perch, Original with Indian-style lamb, FRANCE - www.domainedelavougeraie.com - domainedelavougeraie with porcini mushrooms arctic char or fresh goat cheese. duck in orange sauce, weather conditions. or even a bœuf bourguignon! curries and so on. TEL : (33) 03 80 62 48 25 - FAX : (33) 03 80 61 25 44 [email protected] THE VINES Despite the heat, we continue to use preferably The first white fermented was the Clos Blanc. Nearly The influence of stems A fast but intense harvest! cold maceration as this significantly enhances the all the whites have now gone down to the cellar, by expression of aromas. gravity, and are undergoing alcoholic fermentation; in the harvest ♦ the first reds are also starting to go into the barrels. in the un-destemmed grapes As one might expect with such thick skins protecting As usual we are using a maximum of a third of new Of course, not destemming the fruit, the colour came out quickly and strongly. barrels, and a fifth of our barrels come from oaks in the grapes adds complexity, crispness Not much cap-plunging, just two or three times so the nearby forest of Cîteaux. and also structure to the wine, as not to extract too much, but daily pumping over ♦ making it more suitable for ageing. on the cap. Our talented cellarman Jean-Luc patiently puts It’s all good! We now want to estimate this impact in a scientific way. ♦ together a mega-puzzle in the cellar with giant pieces And a very good sign this year: very early aromas - (barrels), a different headache every year as it varies Last year Lorenzo, our student winemaker, conducted a first study violet could be discerned in the un-destemmed harvest according to the volume of wine, when they come in, of the Savigny-Lès-Beaune Premier Cru and raspberry in the rest. As for the whites, they were new designations or the temporary disappearance of Les Marconnets. He wanted to compare characterised by rather intense floral aromas. vines being replanted... in the end, following a logic one batch of un-destemmed grapes (65%) ♦ that is sometimes practical, sometimes aesthetic - lots to a smaller one (35%). This way of At the time of writing, at the beginning of October, we of factors to take into account! We will soon be able wine-making has been tested on the estate are starting to decant and press the reds. The Volnay to admire his arrangements carefully stacked in rows: and has been used since 2006, reaching was the first to be pressed, on 29th September, after being a cellarman involves brawn but also brains! quite a high proportion today (up to 100% with some of our grands crus). nearly three weeks in the vat. We gently extract the ♦ This year it’s the turn of Paul, The harvest began on 9th September in drought entering the winery, but it was advisable to get it all juice remaining among the skins, stems and seeds, In short, if we were disappointed at our low yields in the 2nd year of his DNO (national using the vertical press which also allows natural due to water stress and summer drought temperatures conditions and finished two weeks later in grey in very quickly as rain was threatening. winemaking diploma), to compare weather, on the very day of the autumn equinox, 23rd filtering of the still-cloudy juice. It would be very (40% down on an average year), on the other hand the Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles, September. A nice way of marking a new wine season. tempting to press a little harder on this nice red cake we are really enthusiastic about this magnificent raw this time 100% un-destemmed, ♦ to get a little more of this rare, precious 2019 juice, material that seems to point to intense, structured with a vat that has been totally A wonderful, very busy fortnight that showed the but we resist it... to try to avoid crushing the seeds aged wines, both red and white. Right now, while destemmed in order to bring out usefulness of a well-oiled machine that works perfectly! and releasing bitterness. We should have pressed all primary fermentation is still under way, it is hard to the nuances to the full. In our favour was the quality of the grape-picking the red by mid-October. say any more. But it’s all very promising... He will be studying all the parameters for the impact of the stems on the wine, and winemaking teams, both highly professional from fermentation to pressing, and efficient, which made it possible to calmly take second fermentation, ageing and the right decisions at each stage of the harvest and ♦ the bottled wine. From a taste but winemaking despite the urgency. Finally the rain only came along at the very end, also an analytical point of view, ♦ neither adding crispness nor aiding the eagerly- measuring the influence on the colour, It has to be said, with 39 Appellations spread over the tannin structure and aromas. awaited swelling of grapes that were very much on two Côtes, we certainly needed to be well-organised! the small side, with plenty of millerandage but also We started off gently with the Côte de Beaune, followed some very nice compact bunches, typical of our pinot by the Nuits, with priority going to the young, recently- noir and chardonnay. There was striking variation planted vines, which ripened first. between grapes from a single vine, depending on their ♦ exposure to the sun or otherwise. We even threw The grapesripened very quickly, red and white at the away some scorched and a little rotten fruit. However, same time throughout the Côte, forcing us to speed systematic selection of both red and white saw very up. We immediately increased the number of grape small proportions being rejected, no more than 5%. pickers, meaning massive amounts of grapes were .