Domaine Pierre-Olivier Garcia: Clos Vougeot 2023!

The people want grand cru! And domaines that have a strong portfolio of wines can easily market and sell them. Grands crus command attention, and occasionally offer the possibility of producing something great.

In reality, the world is more complex than this. But make no mistake: We should be happy to see great new, small domaines like Pierre-Olivier Garcia take on the mighty grands crus. This is a chance to improve things, instead of tasting the same old boring producers that never manage to take a wine much beyond oblivion.

Domaine Pierre-Olivier Garcia has had a Corton since 2017, and while it is truly great, it’s not quite enough to tip the big grand cru scale.

But now Domaine Garcia is producing a Clos Vougeot made from bought grapes from two plots near the lower-end section of Domaine Leroy’s holding.

The Clos Vougeot 2023

The fruit for the Garcia Clos Vougeot comes from the Baudes Basses et Baudes Hautes lieux-dits of the Clos des Vougeot, as mentioned, near the lower of the Leroy plots. The Garcia plot is at the bottom, southern/middle part of the big clos.

The grapes are organic, and at this stage it can be a difficult task to get certified organic grapes, even from the Clos de Vougeot.

The baie-par-baie vinification style of Domaine Pierre-Olivier Garcia really suits the Corton, and my expectations are that the same beautiful match could be made with the Clos Vougeot.

Baie-par-baie vinification reveals more delicate, floral components that could enrich the sometimes uniform Clos de Vougeot terroir. Secondly, the baie-par-baie wines from Garcia are lightly extracted; I expected an airy, refined Clos Vougeot.

The 2023 is being made with 25% destemmed berries, 50% baie-par-baie, and 25% whole clusters – thus a higher percentage of baie-par-baie berries than the estate’s usual 33%/33%/33%.

My first taste of the Clos Vougeot 2023 was promising. I will get back with an update ASAP.