Wine Advisor
Jacques Frederic Mugnier, Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuees 2011
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2011 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées is almost uncharacteristically deep, intense and voluptuous. Sweet red berries, flowers and hard candy all take shape in the glass. In 2011, the Fuées is racy and sensual to the core. All the elements are woven together in a fabric of unusual elegance and pure finesse.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright medium red. Reticent aromas of raspberry, strawberry and crushed stone. Rounder and sweeter than the village wine, with sexy herb and spice notes giving lift to the supple middle palate. Really saturates the mouth on the rising, echoing finish. Has a solid tannic spine to support a graceful evolution in bottle. Showing more stuffing than it did from barrel a year ago.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(not yet racked): Good bright red. Aromas of raspberry and game. Juicy and sappy but with a dry edge to the flavors of raspberry and mocha. Finishes a tad medicinal, with notes of smoke and roasted herbs. Needs a racking.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2011 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuees feels like a step up from the Village Cru with more precision and intensity: raspberry, rose petals, a hint of wild mushroom and damp undergrowth. The palate is very harmonious and feminine with fine tannins encasing the light, almost tart red fruit. It feels very fresh and lively on the finish, but the aftertaste is long and satisfying. Drink now-2022+. I was delighted to return to the home of Frederic Mugnier in the cluster of houses that make up the village of Chambolle, his perhaps the grandest and most imposing. Those are not adjectives that would describe the man himself, ever congenial and humble when I met him at the domaine. I was there to taste his 2012s in barrel, but with some free time before my next appointment he kindly offered to show me his bottled 2011s. This is a producer whose wines I have warmed to in recent years. When I commenced my Burgundy odyssey in the 1990s I felt that his wines were outshone by his neighbor Christophe Roumier and felt that they did not quite reach their full potential. However, in recent vintages Frederic has really honed his style and to me he seems more comfortable with the level of new wood that he is using, even countenancing the idea of a grand cru sans new oak. The wines seem “happier,” as banal as that sounds. But they just sang from bottle with freshness, verve, personality and charm – facets of a great Burgundy wine. Most of these cuvees would have been allocated on release, but I am sure some 2011s remain available and they come highly recommended. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; tel. (310) 205-3803; Toepfer Imports LLC, CO; tel. (303) 818-7640
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at the Burgundy 2011 horizontal tasting in Beaune. The Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées 2011 has a very fragrant bouquet with tart red cherries, fresh strawberry and fine minerality. There is still a touch of woodiness coming through, although that will soon be subsumed. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, with a touch of tangy marmalade that concludes a slightly smudged finish that should be better considering the aromatics, but it does gain more and more precision with time.
About the Producer
Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier is a Burgundian wine producer based in Chambolle-Musigny. It is particularly well-known for its Musigny Grand Cru wine which is regarded as a benchmark for that vineyard. While the estate is most closely associated with Pinot Noir wines from Chambolle-Musigny, it has 10 hectares (25 acres) of vineyards in Nuits-Saint-Georges as well. The Château de Chambolle-Musigny has been owned by the Mugnier family since 1863. From 1950, as there was no winemaker in the family, the vineyards were contracted out to Faiveley and Bruno Clair, with the latter selling the wine in bulk. Between 1985 and 2004, Frédéric Mugnier was able to take back the vineyards as leases expired. On top of the Musigny Grand Cru, Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier makes a wine from the Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru vineyard, as well as two premier cru wines, Les Fuées and Les Amoureuses, and a village-level wine. From the Nuits-Saint-Georges holdings, Mugnier makes a Clos des Fourches premier cru wine, and a red and a white premier cru from the Clos de la Maréchale vineyard, which is a monopole of the domaine. Vineyards are farmed without herbicides or pesticides and just two mildew treatments per year. Grapes are de-stemmed and whole berries are fermented in old open wooden vats. After around 16 months in oak, wines are bottled without fining and filtration.
