Terroir Insight: Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux

I have a soft spot for the wines from Mugneret-Gibourg. They have a classic stance and gives serious hedonistic delight. They require attention and respect – and quite some aging to reach their optimum complexity and hedonistic joyfulness.

The wines have the dignified friendliness of the Mugneret-Gibourg sisters themselves: generous yet slightly reserved at first, only to unfold delicately as time passes.

The Echezeux is the “oldest” of the domaine’s three grands crus, although some would argue that the first was really its Clos Vougeot, which was owned by the family in the 1920s, before the estate was even founded.

But the Echezeaux was nevertheless part of the original domaine when its was founded in 1933 by Jeanne Gibourg and André Mugneret.

So let’s go to Echezeaux, after a short brush-up on the domaine’s history.

Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg through time

As said, Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg was founded in 1933 by the couple Jeanne Gibourg (1906-1997) and André Mugneret (1905-1986).

The couple had one son, Georges Mugneret (1929-1988), who was an ophthalmologist. Georges decided to pursue the family profession in parallel with his medical career and enlarged the vineyard holdings through purchases of plots in his own name. Thus was created Domaine Georges Mugneret.

Dr. Georges Mugneret met his future wife, Jacqueline, while serving in Algeria, and following their marriage, the couple had two daughters, Marie-Christine (b. 1959) and Marie-Andrée (b. 1968).

When Georges Mugneret passed away in 1988, Jacqueline decided to take over the estate, and continue the production together with the older daughter Marie-Christine. They were later joined by Marie-Andrée.

The Mugneret sisters have now been joined by their own daughters, ensuring the future and continuity of this fine estate.

Marie-Christine has two daughters, Lucie (b. 1985), and Clemence, (b. 1991), as well as granddaughter Sixtine, born in 2014, and grandson Augustin, born in 2016 – the first boy in the family.

Marie-Andrée also has two daughters: Marion (b. 1994) and Fanny (b. 1997), who complete the team – and the family – around the estate.

The Echezeaux

The Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux is, like many other producers’ examples, made from different plots and sections of the vineyard.

This is the nature of Echezeaux, a vineyard with a tremendous number of plots and internal lieux-dits. Mugneret-Gibourg has parcels in Les Rouges du Bas (5) and Les Quartieres de Nuits (11) at the bottom of the hill, just outside the wall of the Clos de Vougeot.

The Mugneret-Gibourg plots

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