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Appellation · France

Vougeot

A tiny commune almost entirely occupied by one fifty-hectare Grand Cru with eighty owners.

Vougeot AOCcontinentalcool
What to expect in the glass

Medium-bodied Pinot Noir, in principle rich and structured. In practice quality varies more within this single vineyard than across most Burgundian villages, and the producer’s name is the only reliable guide.

About Vougeot

Vougeot the village appellation is small and rarely seen. Clos de Vougeot, the walled Grand Cru that takes up most of the commune, is one of the most famous names in Burgundy.

The Clos was assembled by Cistercian monks over the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and walled in the sixteenth. It is fifty hectares — enormous by Burgundian standards — and after two centuries of division has around eighty owners.

That makes it the clearest illustration of the region’s central problem. The top of the Clos, against the hillside, drains well; the bottom, near the road, does not. Both are Grand Cru. The label cannot tell you which you have, and the wines are not comparable.

What the name means

Legal name
Vougeot AOC
Type
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / Protégée (AOC / AOP)
Set by
INAO
Regulates
Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.

The delimited area, permitted varieties, maximum yields, minimum alcohol, pruning and training methods, and in many cases minimum ageing. Administered by INAO.

Worth knowing

Clos de Vougeot, the Grand Cru that fills most of the commune, is a separate appellation.

Grapes

Wines from here

red

Red Burgundy

Pinot Noir at its most perfumed and site-specific: pale, silky, high in acid, and the reference point for the variety worldwide.

Rules worth knowing

Confirmed in the EU register

Vougeot is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-FR-A0176, protected at EU level since 1973.

Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013

Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.

The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

Red Burgundy

Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).

Try with fillet steak, mushroom pasta or steak with béarnaise.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Chambolle-Musigny — The most delicate and perfumed of the Côte de Nuits villages, and the usual reference for what people mean by finesse in Pinot Noir.
  • Vosne-Romanée — The village holding Romanée-Conti and six other Grand Crus, and the most expensive patch of vineyard on earth.

Sources

Sources consulted