On the 7th March 2018 Muyi Fine Wines held a Mugneret Gibourg Echezeaux dinner at the Rosewood Hotel’s Bistrot B. Paired with a menu of classical dishes such as Pate en Croute, a risotto of wild mushrooms and a rib of beef, we tasted through 8 vintages of the Mugneret sisters’ most elegant wine.
The idea of the tasting was to show the stylistic evolution of the wines made by the sisters across the years. Starting with the 1997 and 2000, the first flight had wines that were completely mature and open. These were classic examples of Echezeaux, although the finest wines of the evening were yet to come.
The second flight, immediately showed that beginning with the 2002 vintage, the quality of wines produced at the domaine improved markedly. Contrasting both 2002 and 2005 Echezeaux was highly interesting as they are in decidedly different stages of their evolution. The 2002 (as most 2002s from the domaine) is drinking remarkably well at the moment. If you own any bottles, I would strongly recommend you check in on them as this is everything you could possibly wish for in a great example of Echezeaux. The 2005 on the other hand is just starting to shyly open up. A much bigger, more structured wine, this will idelly still need 3-5 years and easily hold for a couple of decades thereafter. Grand vin!
After two richer wines, the next flight, contrasted two wines whose vintages are more acid-driven and have generally produced very fresh, vivid wines. The 2008 showed very well after a couple of hours of air, albeit with the vintage’s hard acid structure very much present. In contrast, the 2010 is a much more successful wine. Still a baby, this can be enjoyed now, but ideally one will want to wait a few years before opening a bottle.
The final flight took us into two recent vintages. Both 2011 and 2013 were quite open considering their youth, even if they are of course still a few years away from reaching maturity. They will, however, in due course become great, classical examples of the Mugneret’s style of Echezeaux: elegant, complex and superbly drinkable.
This was a fascinating insight into one of the poorly understood Grand Crus, through the prism of one of its finest renditions. Hailing from two parcels at both the very top part of the vineyard and lowest part, it is arguably one of the most representative examples of Echezeaux made. Certainly, netx to Cecile Tremblay’s, the Mugneret sisters’ wine is the finest modern rendition year-in-year out!
