About the Wine
The Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux Grand Cru is crafted from 4.5 acres of estate vineyards planted with 25- to 60-year-old Pinot Noir vines on hard limestone soils with low clay content. Harvested entirely by hand and meticulously sorted, the wine is matured in 60–80% new oak barrels to bring finesse and complexity to this celebrated Grand Cru. It offers a refined expression of both its prestigious terroir and the domaine’s precise winemaking approach.
Echezeaux wines are a clear garnet or ruby red, the exact hue often varying considerably. When young these wines have vanilla-scented, smoky, woody aromas or a hint of torréfaction, combined with suggestions of red fruits and spices. After a few years, the nose becomes vegetable or animal, with scents of mushrooms, truffles, or woodland undergrowth. The great complexity of the bouquet makes this a wine both rich and feminine; fat and mellow, with fine, delicate, and fairly supple tannins. In the mouth the attack is spirited, the balance pleasant, and there is a succulent fullness with aromas of red fruits.
Critic Reviews
96 points, James Suckling
"An overlay of white pepper and grilled oranges to the ripe but nuanced berry fruit. Touches of dark minerals, forest floor, mushrooms and dark spices as well. Properly structured yet delicate and transparent, with a medium to full body and a lasting finish hallmarked by tension and great length. A joy to taste now, as it is perfectly balanced and refined, but it will become more complex in the next five years. Better after 2027."
95 points, Wine Spectator
"The initial impression is toasty oak and vanilla, while this red's cherry, raspberry, floral and mineral flavors lie submerged. Though rich, this is well delineated, supple in texture and opens up, turning more seamless and elegant with air. Its tannins are fine grained and this leaves lasting notes of red fruit, mineral and spice. Best from 2029 through 2047.—B.S."
About The Winery
The Mongeard family arrived in Vosne-Romanée in the eighteenth century, with records showing a Mongeard working as vigneron for Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in 1786. In 1945, Jean Mongeard, whose mother was a Mugneret, found himself making wine at the age of 16 in the place of his father who had died years earlier. The entire 1945 crop was purchased by Baron le Roy, Marquis d’Angerville, and Henri Gouges. Gouges instructed the young Mongeard to personally bottle the wines, rather than sell in barrel.
In 1975, Vincent Mongeard, Jean’s son, began working alongside his father and became responsible for viticulture and vinification of the domaine’s wines. He persuaded his father to return to the traditional method of bottling, without filtration, filtering only with certain vintages. Jean Mongeard retired in 1995, and Vincent assumed complete leadership of the domaine. Today, Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret covers a total area of more than 75 acres, split among 35 appellations. The varied range of climats in which the Mongeards own vineyards results, naturally, in wines of great diversity.
