Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier - Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos des Fourches 2023

Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier is one of Chambolle-Musigny’s most historic and quietly revered estates. The family business was founded in Dijon in 1863 by Frédéric Mugnier, a successful producer of liqueurs, cassis, absinthe, and aromatized wines. During the phylloxera crisis of the 1880s, he began acquiring vineyards in Chambolle-Musigny, followed by the Château de Chambolle-Musigny in 1899 and the monopole Clos de la Maréchale in Nuits-Saint-Georges in 1902.

The domaine and liqueur business remained under family management until 1949. The following year, Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier sold the struggling spirits company and leased the vineyards to Maison Faiveley. Direct control of the Chambolle parcels returned to the family in 1978, and in 1985 his son Frédéric Mugnier—an engineer by training and later a commercial airline pilot—settled permanently at the château and assumed responsibility for the estate. When the long-term lease on Clos de la Maréchale expired in 2003, the domaine grew almost overnight from four to fourteen hectares.

Today, Frédéric and Jocelyne Mugnier work alongside a dedicated permanent team, farming exceptional holdings that include Musigny, Bonnes-Mares, Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Amoureuses and Les Fuées, as well as Clos de la Maréchale, the largest monopole in the Côte d’Or. The latter produces both red Pinot Noir and a rare white Nuits-Saint-Georges from Chardonnay.

Frédéric’s approach is thoughtful, empirical, and deeply respectful of the vineyard. Industrial fertilizers were abandoned in 1986, herbicides in 1990, and insecticides in the mid-1990s. Rather than following a prescribed organic or biodynamic system, he practices an exacting form of reasoned viticulture intended to protect the vineyard’s living ecosystem while responding pragmatically to each season.

In the cellar, the wines are made with restraint: grapes are completely destemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and aged for 12 to 18 months in barrel with no more than approximately 30% new oak before bottling without fining or filtration. The resulting wines are celebrated for their purity, delicacy, and transparency—wines shaped less by the hand of the winemaker than by the singular character of their origins.

Notes from the Domaine: “Do not try to find the Clos des Fourches on your maps of Burgundy because it is not there. The name disappeared from the maps at the end of the 19th century when it was renamed to ‘Clos de la Maréchale’. We decided to revive this name for a cuvée made from select vines of the Clos de la Maréchale in certain vintages."

"In the olden days, the word ‘fourches’ meant gallows from which criminals were hanged. One can understand that people preferred the name ‘La Maréchale’ evoking a universe of operettas- brilliant, futile, and festive.”

“This wine does not have the power, complexity, or length of the Clos de la Maréchale but possesses its own attributes. Smoother, more supple, it has a bright floral bouquet in its youth and lends itself to earlier appreciation.”

From barrels that are separated from the Clos de la Maréchale due to their less structured characteristics, which makes them ready for earlier consumption. 100% de-stemmed, 15-20 day ambient yeast fermentation in open wooden vats. Aged for 18 months in barrel (5-15% new oak). Racked twice. Transferred in April to stainless steel tanks to age for 3 additional months. Bottled in June-July. SO2 additions before fermentation and before bottling.

"The 2023 Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos des Fourches marks the reappearance of this "second wine" from the Clos de la Maréchale. Offering up notes of blueberries, spices and a subtle touch of creamy oak, it's medium- to full-bodied, fleshy and forward, structured around sweet tannins." - 89 Points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Producer: Domaine Jacques-Frederic Mugnier

Country: France

Region: Burgundy

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Appellation: Nuits-Saint-Georges

Vintage: 2023

Size: 750ml