The transformation of Vosne-Romanee and its fortunes in the last 10 years has been wild. The wines have mostly got better, but at what price? For an unbeatable combination of quality and value – I propose to you, the wines of the Vigot family, long caretakers of the vines of Mugneret-Gibourg.

The domain as it is now, dates back to 1990 when the newly married Fabrice & Christine decided to, in all senses, throw their lots in together. Fabrice inherited relationships from his father with the Mugneret-Gibourg family, where he, like his dad, managed and farmed many of their vineyards (roughly 1/3) under a metayage agreement. His wife Christine brought some family vineyards from Gevrey. The entire estate is cultivated in a natural way, the manure is organic, pesticides are prohibited.

Of course Mugneret-Gibourg wines are some of the greatest in Burgundy is not disputed. But prices? Ah. Not so great – So what’s to lose in investigating the lovely wines from the family that did much of their farming over the last 40 years? The metayage agreement with the sisters came to an end in 2016 after nearly 60 years – The pay-off was just too small for the massive amounts of work they were having to put in – So from 17 onward all their wines are from their own Domaine. These wines are electric, brimming with life and made in a traditional way much in the same style of the Gibourg sisters. A decant is recommended as there is often, like Fourrier, a bit of CO2 remaining in the bottling.

But it remains a small concern – After giving up the metayage agreement – only 6.5 hectares which translates in many cases to just a few barrels of each cuvee.

They have some great vineyards, Damaudes – above Malconsorts and abutting La Tache, Chalandins and Les Eletois, just below Griotte-Chambertin, among others. All the wines, from the Gevrey to the Nuits, have been filtered through a Vosne lens, with plenty of spice and fine tannin, but mostly built on the same floral and feminine character that you see in the wines of the Mugneret-Gibourgs.

There has been a lot of progress in vineyard management also – and work now on biodynamic principles, Christine tells me is having really good results to mitigate the stresses caused be the changing climactic conditions.

With only 2.5 hectares much of their production is sold to private clients and a substantial amount goes to Japan.

Keith Levenberg, one of my very favourite writers notes: “These wines easily transcend village-wine status. The fruit is vibrantly toned, almost has the energy of a Beaujolais but with darker, earthier tones on account of the gingerbread and cinnamon-spice mix which screams Vosne-Romanee in personality”

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