2014 Clos Vougeot
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2014 tasting, the 2014 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru from Domaine d'Eugenie certainly has one of the more sophisticated and nuanced aromatics among its peers: pure red fruit, mineral, neatly integrated oak, just a hint of rose petal emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet, seductive core of red fruit. It is silky in texture and the acidity well judged with a caressing finish, although it begins to pall after a while and just feels as if it needs another trick up its sleeve. It starts really promising, up there with Etienne Grivot's Clos de Vougeot, but then does not follow through. That said, it is still a very commendable wine. Tasted September 2017.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Good dark red. Cool, youthfully inexpressive nose dominated by black cherry and smoky minerality; the strictest of these 2014s today (Mallard described it as Cistercian). Densely packed and very rich but classically dry, with savory minerality currently holding the upper hand over the wine's fruit. This extremely backward wine is also showing its new oak element (85%) in the early going, with the firmly tannic finish displaying a note of caramel along with a strong impression of saline dry extract. Today it's the Grands-Echézeaux that sings.
(85% new oak; there are always two cuvées at the start; since 2010 one has been vinified entirely with whole clusters and the other 50% destemmed): Bright red-ruby. Sexy smoky oak tones and a floral element complement and lift aromas of black cherry, raspberry and minerals. At once supple and firm, with harmonious acidity leavening the wine's seductive sweetness and giving it lovely inner-mouth energy. I was probably more aware of the smoky oak here than in the preceding samples but this captivating, tangy, very long wine wears its wood element gracefully.