Domaine Jean Fery Vougeot 1er Cru 'Les Cras' 2020
Vougeot is best known, of course, for the Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot. But Vougeot also has four 1er Cru climats as well, making 'insider' wines, with 'Les Cras' the best situated. Earthy and stony with complexity and nuance, deep and powerful and at the same time floral. This is better than many parcels in the Clos de Vougeot itself. And this 2016 is masterful.
BURGUNDY 2020
With so many winemakers finishing their 2020 harvest before the end of August, everyone here in Burgundy expected that this hot, sunny vintage would produce atypical wines, overripe, fat and flabby. Why it did not is a mystery to this day.
In fact, 2020 Burgundy, both red and white, is being lauded by the Press and professionals alike as an exceptional vintage, brilliantly fresh, pure, elegant and focused. Yes, the wines are ripe and concentrated, but there is good acidity that more than brings things into balance. This, in fact, defines the Burgundy 2020 style: high acidity and high concentration.
So let’s look, as we do every year, at how the growing season developed, to try to get some idea of what shaped these unexpectedly energetic wines.
In a word, from start to finish, 2020 was precocious. After a mild and humid winter, the vegetative cycle started a month early under sunny skies, with bud burst in mid-April and the first Chardonnay flowers in early May. Then the weather deteriorated. Pinot Noir flowered in cool, damp conditions, and was less successful than Chardonnay, explaining the smaller Pinot crop.
From that point on, there is not much to report weatherwise. It was hot and dry from June through to the end, the driest year since 1945. The grapes started to change color in mid-July, and harvest in August seemed likely.
Now you may think that an August harvest lets everyone get their jobs done and go home early. But remember that there is a big difference between the heat and luminosity of an August afternoon and the cooler, shorter days of September. When maturity comes galloping at you in August, you have to react quickly; a day or two can mean considerable differences in acid and sugar levels.
Indeed, there may have been more stress on the winemakers than there was on the vines. 2020 was in fact an easy growing season, dry, with little risk of fungal problems. The tough part was deciding when to harvest. Do you put off harvesting to try to get to phenolic maturity, or do you pick sooner to keep acid levels up and to avoid higher alcohol levels?
Many opted to pick early. And for the most part, it proved to be the right decision…though we still do not understand why!
Many 2020 wines have alcohol levels of 13%-14%, but many are higher. Delaying picking increased the potential alcohol levels by as much as a degree a week.
At the same time, good levels of phenolic maturity gave ripe, but not overripe tannins. Some call the 2020s ‘crunchy’, which is a tannin level riper than ‘green’ but less than ‘fine’.
Total acidity was generally high, but most of that was tartaric acid. Malic acid, which would normally make up a big percentage of the total acidity, was low. In fact, the wines changed very little during malolactic fermentation, as there was little malic acid to transform into lactic acid.
So, again, we have a vintage that is characterized by high acidity and concentrated fruit. Some are saying that there has never before been a vintage where ripeness and acidity combined to give such brilliant wines with great aging potential. And this is true for both red and white. Freshness, balance, moderate alcohol.
The whites are rich and ripe, but with a crystalline, almost razor-sharp edge. That little touch of lactic acid makes them complex without adding weight.
The reds might bear a resemblance to past vintages. 2005, maybe. But they made wine differently in 2005. Back then, extraction was the goal: get as much out of the ripeness as you could. Today, Pinot is not so much ‘extracted’ as ‘infused’, like tea. This gives wines that are fresher and more energetic, with no less intensity and maybe more spice.
Drink them now, both red and white. There is astounding vitality in the youthful 2020s. But stick to the regional appellations for now because this is above all a vintage for aging, again both red and white. Keep the premier and grand crus for 10-15 years; longer for the best wines. They have the balance to age, and will reveal little by little the complexity that we just get hints of today. These are wines that may shut down for a few years in a few years, that’s to be expected. But be patient; you will be overjoyed to pull 2020 Burgundy from your cellar down the line.
But even just that little touch of lactic acid made the complexity of the whites.
VOUGEOT
COTE DE NUITS
Say ‘Vougeot’ and everyone immediately thinks ‘Clos de Vougeot, Vougeot’s most famous vineyard. But this little village of the Côte de Nuits has other fine vineyards as well. The name itself derives from that of the little river Vouge which runs through. The abbey of Cîteaux established these vineyards in the 12th century and, through centuries of free labor, laid the foundations of their reputation and an over-all understanding of the diversity of the Burgundian terroir. One of Vougeot’s particularities is that, unusually for the Côte de Nuits, there is a relatively important production of white wines from Chardonnay.
Produced in the commune of Vougeot, the appellation Vougeot includes 4 premiers crus. The commune of Vougeot also produces a grand cru appellation, Clos de Vougeot
Wine
Red Vougeot has much in common with its illustrious neighbors, Clos de Vougeot, Musigny, and Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses). Its color should be crimson and purple in youth, deep and luminous. It develops youthful aromas of violets, black cherry and blackcurrant. When older, it goes to underbrush and truffle over animal notes. The attack is pretty straightforward, and should show acidity and tannin balanced with alcohol.
White Vougeot is often limpid white gold. The initial bouquet is often floral, acacia, often with hints of exotic fruits. A touch of minerality is often a surprise. In the older wines, aromas range from spice cake to fleshy fruits like quince and fig. There is that underlying richness which often found in these rare Côte de Nuits Chardonnays.
Terroirs
The vines grow at altitudes between 240 and 280 meters. Those on the upper slopes occupy shallow brown limestone soils. The soils on the lower slopes are limestone, fine-textured marl, and clay. These plots lie very close to the northern part of the Clos de Vougeot, and in some spots are separated only by the wall.
Color
Red wines - Pinot Noir
White wines - Chardonnay
Production surface area
1 hectare (ha) = 2.4 acres
Reds: 12.00 ha (including 9.45 ha premier cru)
Whites : 3.87 ha (including 3.04 ha premier cru)
Food
Reds tend to be sturdy, but not without a certain delicacy that comes across as length and finish. For this reason, it pairs well with dishes equally intense in flavor. Meat dishes are best roasted or braised, tender and melting. Roast fowl, roast lamb, or game birds. Game, braised or stewed, will prove a worthy partner. As for cheeses, medium flavored, soft-centered cheeses like Reblochon or Vacherin will make a good match.
The richness and delicacy of Vougeot whites make them a match for crustaceans such as lobster or crawfish, fish (either baked or in cream sauce), good quality poultry, and sweetbreads.
Appellations
On the label, the names Vougeot and Vougeot 1er Cru may be followed by the name of a specific vineyard, called a climat.
The following climats are classified as premier cru:
Clos de la Perrière
Le Clos Blanc
Les Cras
Les Petits Vougeots
The following climat is a village wine from a single vineyard, known as a lieu-dit:
Le Village