Replanting in Vougeot to improve the vineyard

Le Clos du Prieuré in Vougeot is one of the three monopoles of the Domaine de la Vougeraie, and is a lovely vineyard covering 1.83 hectares close to the high walls that run alongside the River Vouge. Just over one hectare of the plot is planted with red, and the remaining 0.82 hectares is white, and it normally produces some 7,000 bottles annually.

As part of the Boisset family’s ongoing strategy to continually improve its vineyards, they are constantly replanting any vines where quality is less high, resulting in excellence across all plots. Here, they opted to replant 0.4 hectares of Pinot Noir in the center of the plot as the vines dated from the 1970s and were not as good as they might have been. The new plants are massal selection fine Pinot Noirs. Since 2011, the estate’s preferred plantation density is higher than the traditional Burgundy planting density of 10,000 plants per hectare, or one plant per square meter. In Le Prieuré, as in the estate’s other recently replanted vineyards, it is now 13,600 plants per hectare. Planting the vines closer together helps encourage competition and the plants produce fewer bunches each. This results in smaller fruit that is more concentrated, producing more intense wines. Planting in the winter is in line with the local saying, “A la Sainte Catherine tout bois prend racine”, which states that on St Catherine’s day (25 November), all plants take root. But to help things along, the soil was carefully prepared, and the new vines planted 70cms apart with 1.05m between each row, and then earthed up to protect them from the freezing winter temperatures Burgundy enjoys. As winter progresses, the soil will gradually flatten, and any excess will be removed in May. Replanting continued with part of the Beaune Montée Rouge plot, with new whites over 0.3 hectares and reds over 0.9 hectares.

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