The 2012 Chambolle-Musigny Village was picked around September 25. It has a fragrant bouquet that is floral and alluring with soft strawberry, citrus peel and mineral scents. It needs five minutes in the glass to really coalesce. The palate is medium-bodied and a little masculine and austere on the entry, possibly the “Les Plantes” fruit more expressive at the moment. It is very fresh with what feels like a low pH and a crisp, almost shrill finish that will have mellowed by the time of bottling. Fine.
It is three years since I last visited Frederic Mugnier at his impressive ivy-clad maison in Chambolle that seems to rule the roost in the clustered village. This is a producer whose wines, I must confess, I was indifferent to when I began tasting Burgundy wine. For sure, there were plenty of plaudits. However, with the odd exception, I could not engage with the wines and was not overly keen on how they evolved in bottle. As the years have rolled by, I have appreciated the wines more and more. Has my palate changed? I do not think so. Rather, Frederic has fine-tuned and adapted his approach and I sense he feels more comfortable and confident in his practices. We had a frank interchange about new oak. Nowadays he has reduced the percentage to about 15%, even for the Musigny Grand Cru. Could he envisage not using new oak at all in the future? Frederic said it could be possible and he seemed wary of unclean elements that may lurk inside new barrels and affect the purity of wines. As such, the more classical, refined style of Pinot Noir suits Mugnier to the ground. I adored the subtlety, freshness and precision of these nascent 2012s that at their peak constitute some of the finest wines of the vintage. The following wines were all tasted from used barrels in September 2013.
Importer: Becky Wasserman Selection (Le Serbet) and through various US importers (see www.leserbet.com for full list.)
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