Domaine Jacques-Frederic Mugnier - Grand Cru 'Bonnes Mares' 2022

The history of the Domaine begins in the 1880s with Frédéric Mugnier’s great-great-grandfather, Francois, who went by the name of Frédéric.

In the 1880s, in the midst of the phylloxera crisis that caused the value of vineyards to plummet, Frédéric began the purchase of the domaine’s Chambolle vineyards from the Marey-Monge family. In 1899 he purchased the Chateau de Chambolle-Musigny, and in 1902, he again purchased from the Marey-Monges his last vineyard, the Clos de la Maréchale. This brought the size of the domaine to 24 ha. Frédéric died in 1911 and his only son, Ernest, died in 1924, leaving his estate to his seven children, three girls and four boys. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Mugnier wines did well. They were exported to the United States and sold to some of the best restaurants in Paris, like Maxim’s.

Marcel, the grandfather of the current Frédéric, purchased his sisters’ shares in the domaine. His brothers died fairly young, and though they were all bachelors, they had mistresses to whom they left their shares. After Marcel’s death, his wife and son, Jacques-Frédéric, managed to purchase the shares back from all the mistresses but one. At her death, the vineyards were split up, 40% ending up sold, for the most part to Drouhin. This left Jacques-Frédéric as the sole heir of an estate; the size, with the exception of 43 acres of Clos Vougeot, has not changed since.

Jacques-Frédéric was born in 1923, in 1980, Jacques-Frédéric passed away, leaving his widow to continue running the estate from afar, under the management of Bernard Clair.

At the time of his father’s death, Frédéric, who was born in 1955, was finishing his engineering studies. His first job, as an oil engineer, took him to Saudi Arabia. Whenever he could, he would help out for the harvest in Chambolle, but kept only slightly abreast of the domaine’s affairs. In 1985, tired of being expatriated, Frédéric took a sabbatical. “I dropped my bag in Chambolle”, he says “and tried to understand what was going on with the domaine.” He finished the élevage of the 1984s and made the 1985s. In the winter of 1985, he attended the enology school in Beaune. Douglas Danielak, who was working for Becky at the time and now, a winemaker in California, was in the same class as Frédéric, and he was the one who introduced him to Becky.

Because the concept of terroir is more central to Burgundy than any other wine-producing region, the idea of non-interventionist winemaking takes on the aspect of a philosophical, or even mystical quest. Confronted with the revelation of terroir, most Burgundian winemakers want to stay out of the way, and one would suspect that most of them believe that they do, but whether they actually do is another matter entirely.

In the eighties and early nineties, there was a general tendency by winemakers to beef up the wines. Many still do. With reds, it was achieved by cold soaking and vigorous, as well as frequent, punch downs. With whites, it was done with bâtonnage. Both ended up in a fair amount of heavily toasted new oak. Even if Fred admits that he was also guilty of punching down too often in the beginning, his wines stood out from the outset. In the context of those years, the wines were shockingly pure and elegant, delicate even. Compared to his peers in Chambolle, some wondered where’s the beef?. “What I found tremendously appealing was that Fred was unsure and questioning,” says Becky. “It was obvious that he was exceptionally thoughtful. There wasn’t a glib bone in his body. The first wines were almost touching in their simplicity. In Burgundy, there was little of this pure approach and it moved us all.”

When Frédéric took over, there were only 4.05 ha. This left him a little time on his hands. Frédéric loved flying, so he obtained a commercial pilot’s license, and until 2000, he would work part time for the French airline, TAT. The additional income also afforded him the financial freedom to make the style of wine that he wanted.

In 2004, Faiveley’s lease of the Clos de la Maréchale ended. The size of Domaine Mugnier more than tripled overnight, from 4 to 14 ha. Because the wines of Nuits Saint Georges hardly sell with the ease of the wines of Chambolle Musigny, it was a gamble. Frédéric went full steam ahead, built a new cuverie under the courtyard of the chateau and went from two part-time vineyards workers, to seven full-time employees, plus seasonal staff. He estimates that from 2004 on, the amount of time spent on each vine has tripled.

Frédéric is an engineer by trade, and every one of his choices in the vineyards or the winery must first pass the muster of reason. Yet every one of his choices is guided by an esthetic ideal. On Frédéric’s website, a quote by Glenn Gould summarizes this ideal. Gould, whom Frédéric describe as “a tortured pianist who dared to put himself in danger by asking all the questions” comments his own 1955 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations: “There is a lot of piano playing going on here, and I mean that as the most disparaging comment possible.”

There is no greater respect for terroir than to seek its purest revelation by erasing not so much the self, but traces of the self, the noticeable self. Winemaking without a footprint.

100% de-stemmed, 15-20 day ambient yeast fermentation and maceration in open wooden vats. Aged for 18 months in barrel (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.

“Aromas of dark cherries, minty berries, rose petals, sweet spices and orange zest introduce the 2022 Bonne-Mares Grand Cru, a full-bodied, ample and seamless wine with a rich, layered core of fruit that’s framed by supple, powdery tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, saline finish.” - 94 Points, Wine Advocate

“An airy, fresh and ripe nose combines notes of plum liqueur with a lovely plethora of floral and discreet spice elements. The super-sleek and beautifully delineated flavors are not particularly concentrated but they display a taut mascularity on the superbly long and impeccably well-balanced finale that is firm enough to repay extended keeping. A Bonnes Mares of refinement.” - 95 Points, Burghound

"The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru has a delectable bouquet with red cherry and wild strawberry fruit tones. This has so much more presence and complexity than the 2023. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe red fruit notes and just a very slight vegetal edge on the finish that should be subsumed with bottle age." - 90 Points, Vinous

Producer: Domaine Jacques-Frederic Mugnier

Country: France

Region: Burgundy

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Appellation: Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml