Mugnier’s 2009 Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos de la Marechale was drop-dead gorgeous. Clos de la Marechale is another of my go-to wines, as it is readily available (by Burgundian standards) and rarely excessively marked up on restaurant lists. The 2009 was ripe, open and seductive. Although very much in the style of the year, the Clos de la Marechale also showed plenty of structure in support of the radiant, expressive fruit. Readers fortunate enough to own the 2009 can look forward to a broad and long drinking window.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 02/05/2011 The 2009 Nuits St. Georges Clos de la Marechale is a seriously dark, rich and concentrated wine that stands apart from most of the production here. The intense core of fruit powers through to the intense, imposing finish where sweet spices and licorice add the final layers of complexity. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029. With each passing year Frederic Mugnier has let up on the reigns of winemaking and allowed the vintage to take center stage. His wines now reflect the unique qualities of each harvest to an exacting degree. Mugnier describes the 2009s as rich, powerful and exceptionally dense wines that will be at their most exciting in several decades’ time, or – as Mugnier says with his typically dry sense of humor – when he’s no longer around. The vintage was marked by one week of very hot weather towards the end of the growing season, although on average 2009 was not a hot year. The harvest began on September 10. For the 2009s Mugnier destemmed 100% of the fruit as he didn’t feel he had the phenolic ripeness in the stems to use whole clusters. Fermentations lasted about three weeks, an approach which is now pretty much consistent from year to year. ‘Long, slow and gentle,’ Mugnier says. The wines were racked once and were scheduled to be bottled between April and May 2011. The percentage of new oak barrels continues to drop and is now between 15-20% across the entire range. I also tasted all of the 2008s, a vintage in which Mugnier’s wines are stratospheric for their sheer beauty, elegance and pedigree. In 2008 the harvest began on September 26, two full weeks after 2009, which is pretty consistent across domaines in these two years. Today the 2008s appear to have more finesse and silkiness. This will be a fascinating vintage to follow here.

An expressive and attractively fresh nose speaks of ripe and earthy red and blue pinot fruit that is very much in keeping with the tautly muscular and firm middle weight flavors that possess plenty of dry extract which buffers well the moderately dense tannins shaping the mouth coating and lingering finish.

Good deep red-ruby. Blackberry liqueur, minerals and crushed stone on the nose, along with an earthy nuance. Large-scaled, lush and sweet, with a creamy, chocolatey flavor saturating the palate. This big, slightly rough wine benefits from its substantial tannins, which help to balance the sweetness of the alcohol. The pHs of these grapes was the highest to date, noted Mugnier, but as there was so little malic acidity, the post-ML pH is now just a bit higher than average. Mugnier told me there would probably be no Clos des Forches bottling, as he needed to include some of the less-ripe juice in the Clos de la Marechale. (Incidentally, the very promising 2009 Marechale blanc, which had been racked into stainless steel tank in September and will be bottled in January, was dry, powerful, complex and gripping, with excellent energy and acidity for the vintage.)

Very charming, pure, intense fruit (more intense and rather riper than usual for this wine) with tannins still a little more evident than I would have expected. Lots of fun and a versatile wine to enjoy with fish main courses. (JR)