Tag Archives: rare and classic

Rare & Classic: Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux 2012 – August 2016

Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru 2012 750ML ($219.95) Buy Now: $189

Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru 2012

Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru 2012

Tucked behind the Clos de Vougeot, and on the same little road as Vosne’s Les Suchots, the Grands-Echézeaux vineyard could hardly be better situated. Known for producing Grand Cru wines of structure and definition, Grands-Echézeaux lives up to its reputation chez Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret. Their 2.5 acre plot hosts vines from 40 to 70 years old. Accordingly, the wine they make has good color, a full body, and a rich, sturdy backbone, perfect for its dose of 100% new oak. On the nose, this wine shows leathery, spiced, and animal notes over black fruit and mushrooms. Its tannins soften into velvet over time, but this Grand Cru definitely needs ageing. The 2012 vintage is showing beautifully: profound fruit, sophisticated tannins, and good acidity. This is a wine to buy now, and enjoy immensely in a decade. – Daniel

96+ POINTS JOHN GILMAN “The 2012 Grands Echézeaux from Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret is a great young wine and a very impressive example of just how special this vintage is in the Côte de Nuits. The exceptional and quite classic bouquet offers up scents of red and black plums, cocoa, duck, woodsmoke, a beautifully complex base of soil tones and a very suave base of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and quite plush and refined on the attack, with a sappy core of fruit, great soil signature, fine-grained tannins and a very long, tangy and utterly seamless finish. A great wine. 2025-2075.” JG

Rare & Classic – Bordeaux: Clos Fourtet 2012 – August 2016

Clos Fourtet, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2012 750ML ($149.95) Buy Now: $119

Clos Fourtet, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2012

Clos Fourtet, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2012

If you’ve driven to the town of St. Emilion you’ve probably seen Château Clos Fourtet, its rose bush-ended vineyard rows, and the classic château itself. Built in 1790, the stone manor sits atop one of Bordeaux’s best limestone-hewn cellars. And ever since Philippe Cuvelier purchased Clos Fourtet in 2001, the wines laid down in that cellar have only been better: the 2009 Clos Fourtet garnered 100 points from Robert Parker. Few vintages deliver like 2009, but 2012 was kindest to Merlot, which constitutes 86% of this Premier Grand Cru Classé (the rest being 10% Cab Sauvignon, 4% Cab Franc): a decidedly Right Bank year. Praised by critics from the USA, France, and the UK, the 2012 Clos Fourtet is drinking well now, but has a long life ahead still. Collectors take note: Just as the château cannot be missed when approaching St. Emilion, the 2012 Clos Fourtet should not be overlooked either. – Daniel

Wine Spectator 94 points — #9 2015 TOP 100–“Gorgeous, with a pure, unadorned violet aroma giving way to very ripe and stylish plum, boysenberry and blackberry fruit. Offers a suave mouthfeel, with anise and tobacco hints filling the background. A finely stitched chalk note extends the finish. Not shy on depth, and sneakily long.”

Robert Parker 95 points “Having just had the 2003 and 2005 from my cellar, I can attest to the magnificent turnaround in quality this famous estate on the eastern side of St.-Emilion has achieved. All of it is attributable to its dynamic proprietor, Philippe Cuvelier. The 2012 Clos Fourtet (usually 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc) has beautiful blackberry and blueberry fruit and an inky purple color. With flawless integration of acidity, tannin, wood and alcohol, a full-bodied mouthfeel and stunning richness, this is impressive and certainly one of the vintage’s top wines. It should evolve beautifully for 15-20 years, and be drinkable in 3-4. Yields were a modest 32 hectoliters per hectare with the alcohol at 14%.” RP