2022 Gerard Raphet Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 750 ml

For the Raphet family, wine is more than what they do, it’s who they are. Barrels are kept in a cellar beneath their house, and the best of them are selected each year by their American importer. There’s never much of it to go around.

Made from 60-80 year old vines in both Le Grand Maupertuis (high on the slope) and parcels lower on the Clos Vougeot slope, the 2022 Gerard Raphet Clos Vougeot Grand Cru is a deeply personal wine to the Raphet family. They have passed down their winemaking acumen for four generations, and today they are helmed by the eponymous Gérard, who took over from his father Jean in 2005. The family is as tied to the land as any in the entire Côte de Nuits, and its future is every bit as bright as its past: Gérard’s daughter Marion now takes an increasingly important role in both the vineyards and the winery.

The 2022 Clos Vougeot is fermented with indigenous yeast, aged in 15% new, 85% used French oak that softens the tannins without imparting an overabundance of the baking-spice notes that new wood imparts. It’s then bottled after 18 months, without fining or filtering. It’s a transcendent example of just how profound great Burgundy can be. 

Raphet is one of our single favorite Burgundy producers because of the wines’ captivating perfume. These wines are never the darkest, burliest, or sweetest Burgundies on the table: They’re light in color but exquisitely scented, offer haunting, exotic smells you’ll only find in Burgundy’s top tier. Give this bottle its due: saving it for a few years will really give this gorgeously aromatic Grand Cru an opportunity to shine.