Domaine de la Vougeraie

Domaine de la Vougeraie was created in 1999 by Jean-Claude and Claudine Boisset together with their children Nathalie and Jean-Charles. La Vougeraie is the name of the family home, and the name is also a nod to Vougeot. The domaine is a selection of estates acquired over time and blended with the family's own vines. Its history goes back to 1964 and Les Evocelles, the first plot acquired by Nathalie and Jean-Charles Boisset's father at the start of his career, in his home village of Gevrey-Chambertin. Twenty years later the vines of Vougeot and the family's first plot on the Côte de Beaune were added, 1996 brought more land around Beaune, and the addition of the Le Clos Blanc monopole in Vougeot closed the loop. In 1993 the Boisset négociant house united its vineyards under the name of Domaine Claudine Deschamps and bought the Pierre Ponnelle domaine, and in 1997 it acquired L'Héritier-Guyot, a company best known for its crème de cassis that also held vineyards in Vougeot. Jean-Charles Boisset had the idea of uniting these sites into a single domaine, formed from the former domaines of Claudine Deschamps, Pierre Ponnelle, Louis Voilland and L'Héritier-Guyot. About 4 hectares were sold off, leaving a holding of 37 hectares, and 1999 was the first vintage of the new domaine. The estate celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019 and has acquired further plots since then. It is a family-owned estate, based at 7bis rue de l'Eglise in Prémeaux-Prissey.

• 1964: Les Evocelles in Gevrey-Chambertin, the first plot
• 1993: Boisset unites its vineyards as Domaine Claudine Deschamps and buys the Pierre Ponnelle domaine; 1997: L'Héritier-Guyot acquired
• 1999: Domaine de la Vougeraie created by Jean-Claude and Claudine Boisset with Nathalie and Jean-Charles; first vintage
• 2019: 20th anniversary; further plots acquired since

Jean-Charles Boisset approached Pascal Marchand, winemaker at Comte Armand in Pommard, in 1997. Marchand joined the Boisset Group in 1999 and was responsible for Domaine de la Vougeraie through the 2005 vintage, with Jacques Devauges hired as his assistant. By March 2007 Pierre Vincent was in charge, a recruit from Boisset's Jaffelin brand. Just before Christmas 2016 Vincent finished as winemaker at Vougeraie, and he then started in that role at Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet. Sylvie Poillot is General Manager and manages all aspects of the domaine. She joined in 2002, having worked for a decade in the luxury hotel business, and stepped into her current role in 2017. Camille Leynaud-Prince has been at the estate since 2015; she started as an assistant to Pierre Vincent before taking on full responsibility for oenology. She works with oenologist Lucas Lodi. Jean-Luc Rousseau, the cellar manager, has been with the estate since 2006 and manages several hundred barrels during ageing. The team also includes Jean-Michel Catinot, a native of the nearby Saône plain whose vocation lay in the vineyards.

• Pascal Marchand: from Comte Armand; responsible for Vougeraie from 1999 through the 2005 vintage
• Pierre Vincent: in charge by March 2007; left just before Christmas 2016 for Domaine Leflaive
• Sylvie Poillot: joined 2002; General Manager since 2017
• Camille Leynaud-Prince (at the estate since 2015, responsible for oenology) and oenologist Lucas Lodi; cellar manager Jean-Luc Rousseau (since 2006)

The estate stretches over 150 parcels of the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, half on each. Les Evocelles in Gevrey-Chambertin, the domaine's first vineyard, was planted in 1966 and now covers three hectares of east-southeast-facing rows on limestone soil, with young vines planted at 13,600 per hectare. Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot, a Vougeot Premier Cru adjacent to the Château du Clos de Vougeot, was founded by the monks of Cîteaux and has always been planted with white grapes; it remained an undivided monopole through the French Revolution, belonged to L'Héritier-Guyot in the 20th century, and is now owned in full by the domaine. The walled Clos du Prieuré in Vougeot, named for the priory of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés that once owned the land, produces both red and white wines, from 1.0019 hectares of Pinot Noir and 0.8258 hectares of Chardonnay. Clos de Thorey, a south-facing Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru of 3.0771 hectares, lies between Les Damodes and Les Corvées Pagets. Clos de la Chapelle, a walled Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Morgeot on flat ground, gives a white from 3.5847 hectares of Chardonnay and a red from 0.9888 hectares of Pinot Noir. The Grand Crus on the estate's list are Bâtard-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bonnes Mares, Charlemagne, Charmes-Chambertin Les Mazoyères, Chevalier-Montrachet, Clos de Vougeot, Corton Le Clos du Roi and Musigny.

• 150 parcels, half on the Côte de Nuits and half on the Côte de Beaune
• Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot: Vougeot Premier Cru, always planted with white grapes, an undivided monopole owned in full by the domaine
• Clos du Prieuré (Vougeot, red and white), Clos de Thorey (Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru, 3.0771 ha) and Clos de la Chapelle (Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot, red and white) complete the monopoles list
• Nine Grand Crus: Bâtard-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bonnes Mares, Charlemagne, Charmes-Chambertin Les Mazoyères, Chevalier-Montrachet, Clos de Vougeot, Corton Le Clos du Roi, Musigny

Domaine de la Vougeraie has used organic cultivation practices since day one, and in 2001 began to adopt a biodynamic approach. The red Clos du Prieuré has been farmed organically since 1997, with Ecocert approval in 1999 and biodynamic agriculture since the 2001 campaign. Clos de Thorey has been organic since 2012, with Ecocert approval in 2015, and Clos de la Chapelle has been biodynamic since the 2021 campaign. The estate is today entirely biodynamically cultivated. Work in the vineyards includes tilling, systematic replanting, and grafts and rootstocks from the estate's own massal selections. Horse-drawn plows work the most prestigious white wine sites, the two plots of Charlemagne on the Corton hill, Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, and also the Musigny. Pruning is typically Guyot, carried out late to delay budburst; the premier and grand crus and young vines are pruned in March, and young vines are pruned on 'root' days in the lunar calendar.

• Organic since day one; Ecocert approval in 1999 on the Clos du Prieuré red
• Biodynamic approach adopted in 2001; today entirely biodynamically cultivated
• Horse-drawn plows on Charlemagne, Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet and Musigny
• Late Guyot pruning, with premier and grand crus and young vines pruned in March

Harvesting is by hand into small aerated 20 kg crates. For the reds, fermentation in whole bunches has come into its own since 2008, with part or all of the crop treated this way depending on the vintage; fermentation takes place in wooden vats after cold pre-fermentation maceration, with indigenous yeasts only, and the marc is pressed in a vertical press. For the whites, Chardonnay is sorted and pressed in gentle pneumatic cycles lasting three hours, settled, and moved by gravity into barrel for both fermentations. All of the estate's wines are aged in oak with about 20% new wood, using oak from the Forest of Cîteaux aged for three years on the estate, and ageing lasts 12 to 18 months. White bottling usually starts with the Côte de Beaune Les Pierres Blanches and ends with Le Clos Blanc, and bottling follows the lunar calendar.

• Hand harvest into 20 kg crates
• Reds: whole-bunch fermentation since 2008, wooden vats, cold pre-fermentation maceration, indigenous yeasts, vertical press
• Whites: three-hour pneumatic pressing, barrel fermentation
• About 20% new oak, including Cîteaux forest oak aged three years on the estate; 12 to 18 months of ageing

In the estate's own words, its wines are 'whole, deep, and cheerful, direct yet complex; in a word, true,' and its vineyard and cellar work aims at 'a style that is all about elegance and a definition of terroir that is ever-more precise.' Writing in Decanter about the domaine's early vintages under Pascal Marchand, Stephen Brook found the wines 'rich and quite extracted,' adding that they 'show the typicity of their vineyards.'

• Estate's stated aim: elegance and an ever-more precise definition of terroir
• Decanter's Stephen Brook on the early vintages: rich and quite extracted, with the typicity of their vineyards

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/the-domaine.r-691/history.r-757/, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/the-domaine.r-691/our-team.r-786/, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/the-domaine.r-691/our-vineyard.r-717/, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/the-domaine.r-691/winemaking.r-718/, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/biodynamics.r-692/philosophy-.r-719/, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/?search=1, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/grands-crus.r-703/?search=1, and the estate's technical sheets: https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/vougeot-premier-cru.v-17084.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/vougeot.v-17092.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/nuits-saint-georges-premier-cru.v-17155.html?id_millesime=44, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/chassagne-montrachet-premier-cru.v-22210.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/chassagne-montrachet-premier-cru.v-22519.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/monopoles.r-704/vougeot.v-17099.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/grands-crus.r-703/bonnes-mares-grand-cru.v-17113.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/grands-crus.r-703/charlemagne-grand-cru.v-17157.html?id_millesime=57, https://www.domainedelavougeraie.com/en/our-wines.r-693/bourgogne.r-700/bourgogne-pinot-noir.v-17095.html?id_millesime=57. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/features/boisset-pulling-together-248569/ (Decanter, Stephen Brook), https://www.winespectator.com/articles/winemaker-talk-pascal-marchand-4640 (Wine Spectator, March 2009), https://www.burgundy-report.com/burgundy-report-extra/03-2003/profile-domaine-de-la-vougeraie-premeaux/ (Burgundy Report, March 2003), https://www.burgundy-report.com/burgundy-report-extra/03-2007/the-2005s-of-domaine-de-la-vougeraie/ (Burgundy Report, March 2007), https://www.burgundy-report.com/2017/01/pierre-vincent-goodbye-vougeraie-hello-leflaive/ (Burgundy Report, January 2017). Last verified 2026-10-20. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.