Frédéric Mugnier
Daniel Johnnes
February 3, 2023
For me, the red wines of Domaine Jacques Fédéric Mugnier are among the most compelling in all Burgundy. Not only are they aromatically seductive; they often display the silky texture and vibrant intensity found in the best expressions of Pinot Noir.
Yet there is so much more to appreciating a wine than just its aroma and taste. I am lucky to have the advantage of knowing many winemakers and somehow this knowledge has an impossible to explain influence on my palate. If I don’t sympathize with a winemaker for whatever reason, I am less inclined to be moved by his or her wines.
If you know Dominique Lafon and his gregarious character, you understand (and perhaps like) a little better the exuberant style of his wines.
With Fred Mugnier or Freddy as his friends call him, a tasting is always more than a simple exhibition of the current vintage. There can be a deep reflective conversation about the world we live in and somehow the discourse makes a full circle back to the topic at hand, his wine.
On my most recent Sommelier Scholarship trip, I asked him if he had done experiments with biodynamic treatments in his vineyard and did he see any improvements. A simple question very commonly asked to winemakers. His answer was a simple, “no”
Biodynamics and organic viticulture have become more and more common in Burgundy, France and throughout the wine producing regions of the world. This movement also coincides with a growing awareness of our carbon footprint and also the commonly heard phrase, that ‘the quality of the wine starts in the vineyard’.
Fred answered my question simply by saying “no”. It was only later in the day that I realized he had unleashed a proverbial bomb recently in publishing an article on his website questioning biodynamic practices.
In the middle of harvest 2022, an article appeared in a wine publication saying how, ever since Mugnier started with biodynamics in his Clos de la Maréchal vineyard, his wines have improved dramatically. This article set him off and even with the harvest in full swing he published this article to set the record straight and express his thoughts on the subject, which he says have been percolating in his mind for 30 years.
It is a fairly long, thoughtful and factual article dissecting and questioning the adherence to this type of viticulture. So polarizing was the article that it provoked a response from several of his friends who have long embraced biodynamics and a call from Aubert de Villaine from Domaine de la Romanée Conti for a meeting.
Fred is not afraid of stirring the pot but he doesn’t do it for the sport of it. He does it in a most logical way to question practices that people apply. He thoughtfully weighs the risk benefit of it - something that many people do not do because they simply do it with a herd mentality. This is the same behavior people apply when they say “natural” wine is better or “organic” is better. No sulphur is better. Filtration is bad. These are just some examples that may or may not be true but so often are used and applied for the wrong reasons. Often, they are just marketing slogans.
Well, Fred pulled back the curtain and there is a dialogue that is now circling the planet on this topic. It may make some people uncomfortable but from discomfort comes change and intelligent conversation.
Because of his thougtful critique I think I like Fred’s wines even more today than before my visit!
