Wine Advisor
Jacques Prieur, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(14% natural alcohol, which is rare for this wine; vinified with 40% whole clusters): Deep medium red. Perfumed nose combines black cherry, graphite minerality, violet and licorice; the clay-based soil here gives more airy aromatics, notes Gublin. Not a powerhouse or even particularly thick or expansive but fine-grained and quite suave. Today the wine's firm, building tannins clamp down on the very primary dark fruit and mineral flavors but there's a juiciness and medicinal reserve here that suggest that this wine will reward extended cellaring.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(40% vendange entier): Deep ruby-red. Very pure but reticent aromas of black cherry, herbs and licorice. Offers attractive sweetness to its medicinal black cherry and licorice flavors but comes across as extremely primary today, like a brand-new barrel sample. This youthfully tight, firmly structured wine finishes with powerful tannins that call for more élevage (Gublin told me she'd probably wait until June to bottle it). But there's terrific intensity of fruit to support the powerful spine.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru includes 30% whole bunch fruit. It has a succinct bouquet, quite understated compared to others that I have tasted, but well defined with black cherries, bergamot and pomegranate aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, tensile tannin. There is a keen thread of acidity here, gently grip with a slightly chalky textured, but energetic finish with pleasing frisson. Enjoy this over the next 15-20 years.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(14% natural alcohol, which is rare for this wine; vinified with 40% whole clusters): Deep medium red. Perfumed nose combines black cherry, graphite minerality, violet and licorice; the clay-based soil here gives more airy aromatics, notes Gublin. Not a powerhouse or even particularly thick or expansive but fine-grained and quite suave. Today the wine's firm, building tannins clamp down on the very primary dark fruit and mineral flavors but there's a juiciness and medicinal reserve here that suggest that this wine will reward extended cellaring.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2015 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru includes 30% whole bunch fruit. It has a succinct bouquet, quite understated compared to others that I have tasted, but well defined with black cherries, bergamot and pomegranate aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, tensile tannin. There is a keen thread of acidity here, gently grip with a slightly chalky textured, but energetic finish with pleasing frisson. Enjoy this over the next 15-20 years.
About the Producer
HISTORY Domaine Jacques Prieur's mythical story started on February 24th, 1868, with the wedding, in Bligny-les-Beaune, of Claude Duvergey (22 years old) and Marie Taboureau (19 years old). Marie was born in Bligny in 1848 and Claude in Meursault in 1845. Their parents were winegrowers. Claude founded the Duvergey-Taboureau House and thrived in the wine and spirit trade, without investing directly, at first, in viticulture. In 1879, he acquired the property of "Les Herbeux" in Meursault, current heart of Domaine Jacques Prieur... and started buying vineyards. He then made a risky bet with the arrival of the terrible phylloxera in Côte d'Or. However, his choices would finally make him a visionary thanks to the use of American plants as cure. In 1889 he acquired the famous Clos de Mazeray Monopole (Meursault), a parcel of Volnay Santenots, 4.5 ha (11 ac) of Clos Vougeot and 2 lots in Chambolle-Musigny. In 1890 he became the sole owner of the prestigious Clos des Santenots in Volnay, 1.5 ha (3.7 ac) of Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes and 0.45 ha (1.1 ac) of the mythical Montrachet (notably supplemented by the "Dent de Chien" parcels in 1891 and 1892). He then ran his trade business in the Château de Bligny bought in 1890 for his wife. Without any direct heir, both spouses would turn to the Taboureau family side. Thus they married in 1891 Hélène Taboureau (Marie's niece) and a well-born young man from Beaune, Henri Prieur (itinerant salesman). They benefited from a very advantageous marriage contract including some goods but especially the promise of a profit-sharing in the Duvergey-Taboureau's trade. Jacques Prieur was born on January 31st, 1893, from the union of Hélène and Henri. The estate kept growing in 1895 with a new acquisition in Musigny and a swap between a plot of Clos Vougeot and parcels of Chambertin and Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze. In 1899, Claude Duvergey added Volnay Champans to its collection and in 1907, Chevalier-Montrachet. He died on March 9th, 1920, and bequeathed all of his property to Jacques Prieur (his wife remaining stakeholder). Soon after, the latter married Madeleine Darnat, daughter of sheets merchants from Lyon. In 1924, Jacques Prieur and comte Jules Lafon instituted the famous "Paulée de Meursault" in order to celebrate the end of harvests with all winegrowers from the village. Marie Duvergey-Taboureau died in 1935 and definitely left the estate to Jacques Prieur. Co-founder of the legendary Chevaliers du Tastevin, he gave his name to the estate in 1956. He died in 1965 and his wife in 1974, leaving the winery to their 6 children. In 1988, in order to avoid selling the winery to foreign shareholders, 5 important French families united, among them Labruyère Family, winegrowers and entrepreneurs from South Burgundy. In the 1990s the Grands Crus of Corton-Bressandes and Corton-Charlemagne would enrich the mosaic of terroirs of the estate. Today leading this jewel of Burgundy, Labruyère Family, supported by Prieur Family's heirs, promotes and defends, every single day, the great terroirs of Burgundy, worldwide
