Domaine Moron-Garcia – tasting the 2018s from cask

On my trip to Burgundy in May I had the pleasure of revisiting Domaine Moron-Garcia in Nuits-Saint-Georges to taste the 2018s wines from cask.

Wine and people

Domaine Moron-Garcia is managed by Matthieu Moron and Pierre-Oliver Garcia, who are making some fabulous wines in a modest-sized cellar in Nuits-Saint-Georges. The first vintage for the estate was 2016.

This is not your everyday operation, as some of the wines are made in a time-consuming but also highly quality-oriented way that can best be described as borderline crazy or, more generously, an extreme focus on quality and detail.

Flavour of the year

Winehog – I – named Domaine Moron-Garcia Flavour of the Year 2018 for the delightful wines from the 2017 vintage.

The motivation is and was that Moron-Garcia produces vivid, energetic wines with character and substance. The wines have lovely complexity and a style unique to the estate, and they are made with refinement and a lovely expression of terroir. The wines have quite some substance, and more weight and depth than many current Burgundy wines.

More info on Moron-Garcia can be found here

A bit about baie-par-baie

Matthieu Moron and Pierre-Oliver Garcia employ a special technique whereby some of the berries in the top-end wines are “hand-destemmed,” grape-by-grape, to ensure whole berries for the vinification. This is extremely time consuming. They must have a lot of good friends, not to mention special dedication.

The “baie-par-baie” grapes are mixed with whole-cluster bunches, and in some cases more machine-destemmed berries.

Photo Domaine Moron-Garcia – baie-par-baie

The baie-par-baie method is unusual and very time consuming. However, the wines served here are of both high and exciting quality.

The 2018 wines from Moron-Garcia

The 2018s here are slightly more generous than the delightfully balanced 2017s – and as with other producers, they contain intense and relatively dark fruit. Here, the 2018s are all about freshness and balancing acidity/ph.

Moron-Garcia has nailed most of the cuvées, with only one perhaps tipping over onto the rich, velvet, dense and ripe side.

This is how it is, and the Moron-Garcia guys do not beat around the bush: They are very honest about the difficulties they had with the wine in question. But to be honest, I have tasted many worse wines from 2018…

Now to the tasting notes…

Starting out with the Domaine Moron-Garcia Aligoté 2018 as usual. This is a vivid and aromatic Aligoté from ancient (80- to 100-year-old) vines. It’s somewhat more generous in this vintage, but the influence of the lees has a fine balancing effect, hence avoiding the more sweet tendencies one could have feared from a rich vintage like this. A lovely glass – vivid and with a nice citrus freshness.

(Drink from 2019) – Good (86 – 87p) – Tasted 24/05/2019

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The Domaine Moron-Garcia Brouilly La Folie 2018 is from down south in Beaujolais, thus Gamay, and 10% whole cluster as far as I recall. Fine, vivid balance and a lovely freshness. The palate offers delightful fruit, with a spicy impression from the lees (light caramel and fennel) supported by lovely acidity. This is delicious.

(Drink from 2019) – Good (86 – 87p) – Tasted 24/05/2019

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The Domaine Moron-Garcia, Bourgogne La Maladieres 2018 is representing the relatively rich and generous side of the 2018s, with nice iron minerality lurking in the background. Lovely fruit with variations of cherry, and the 20% whole-cluster in this cuvée gives an expressive, somewhat floral bouquet. A quite delightful wine in 2018.

(Drink from 2023) – Good (85 – 87p) – Tasted 24/05/2019

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The Domaine Moron-Garcia, Marsannay Clos du Roy 2018 is an intense and powerful wine for this level. Its fruity and deep character show fine mineral expression. One-quarter whole-cluster in this cuvée gives a fine expressive bouquet and a fresh floral character in this rather saturated vintage. Better than the 2017? Perhaps…

(Drink from 2023) – Good (86 – 87p) – Tasted 24/05/2019

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Tasting Notes for this producer

• Domaine Moron-Garcia, Corton “Cuvée Baie par Baie” 2017 July 23, 2019
• Domaine Moron-Garcia, Beaune Les Tuvilains 2017 April 26, 2019
• Domaine Moron-Garcia, Marsannay Clos du Roy 2017 March 7, 2019
• Domaine Moron-Garcia, Bourgogne Blanc 2017 March 6, 2019

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