I have been visiting this estate since the mid-1990s. The wines have always been of high quality (a 2001 Romanée-Saint-Vivant that I opened at the end of last year was all that one could have asked of that great vineyard), but there has been a welcome evolution over the years toward wines with less new oak and more elegance.
Alain and Sophie Meunier’s son Louis has now taken charge of the fermentations here and further added to the trend toward elegance and balance. Specifically, he has increased the period of cold maceration, does very little physical intervention, and uses much less SO2.
In short, this is an estate that has not received as much attention as it deserved in the past and that appears now to be poised to go to go to very top echelons of quality. Those lamenting the high prices of recent Burgundy vintages will find good values and quality wines at the lower levels. Those seeking top-of-the-heap Burgundy will focus on the top appellations.
Harvesting in 2022 began at the end of August. Overall yields were 39 hl/ha. Malolactic fermentations here were rapid, as was the case generally in 2022.
All wines below are red wines and were tasted from barrel. The estate has been organic since 1989, quite early for Burgundy.
2022 Bourgogne Cuvée Jeunesse
This wine is smooth and pure with black cherry fruit, good length in the mouth, and pleasing acidity. 15% new wood here, half racked into tank to complete aging. 12.8º alcohol. (86-89)
2022 Côte de Nuits-Villages Au Leurey
This is a new vineyard for Confuron, located in the commune of Prémeaux; the estate has 15 ares and the vines are more than 60 years old. The is good depth to the dark fruit here and good density. Promising. (88-90)
2022 Côte de Nuits-Villages La Montagne
This wine is quite lovely with purity, precision, black raspberry fruit, and fine tannins. (89-92)
2022 Côte de Nuits-Villages Les Vignottes
This wine is darker and a bit heavier than the La Montagne (there’s a high proportion of clay in the soils). The wine is long in the mouth, spicy, mineral, and features crushed berry fruit. (89-92)
2022 Chambolle-Musigny
The Chambolle is mineral and pure with finesse, length, and density. It fits the public's ideas of what Chambolle should be. (90-92)
2022 Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Fleurières
The Nuits, Fleurières is darker and more in a block at this time. It is ripe, harmonious, and fresh, albeit at this stage more primary than the Chambolle. (90-92)
2022 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Chaboeufs
As good as the previous wines are, there’s a big jump in quality to the premiers crus. The wine has plenty of layered, stony fruit with length, depth, and fine tannins. 20% whole clusters in this wine, 43% new oak. The wine is half from vines that are 20 years-old, half from vines that are 70 years-old. (93-95)
2022 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Boudots
The fruit here is redder than that of the Chaboeufs, and as one would expect from this vineyard on the border of Vosne-Romanée, the finesse of that village begins to show through here. Excellent length. Two of the four barrels are new. (93-95)
2022 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
This wine is made from vines more than 80 years old that are located in the Châtelots and Feusselottes vineyards. It is pure and penetrating with black raspberry and black cherry fruit, showing lightness, length, finesse, and airiness. (93-95)
2022 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts
There are five barrels of this wine and they had not been assembled yet when I tasted. The wine showed less advanced than the Chambolle 1er Cru. It has depth and the Beaux Monts luminosity to go with dark fruits and violets. The wine is light on the palate and there is good minerality here. (93-96)
2022 Clos Vougeot
The Clos Vougeot is from vines that average 60 years of age and located at the top of the Clos. At 13.5º, this is the highest alcohol 2022 wine in the cellar. The wine is dense with depth, minerality, length, and layering — everything is here for a great Clos Vougeot. (94-97)
2022 Romanée-Saint-Vivant
Well, if you want a stellar example of the greatness that 2022 can achieve, Confuron’s Romanée-Saint-Vivant will serve well. It is pure, deep, intense, dark, spicy, and long — all it needs is time. (97-99)
2021 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Chaboeufs
The 2021 Nuits-Chaboeufs is a wine of purity and finesse with no hardness. It shows dark fruits with charm and freshness, and even though this is a cold terroir, there is good ripeness here. 94/A