Although Jacques-Frédéric (“Fréd”) Mugnier easily makes every critic’s short list of the most respected and influential winemakers in Burgundy, his path to the pinnacle of Burgundy was far from predictable. His professional training was in Petroleum Engineering, and he began his career with offshore oil projects in the North Sea and Africa. Nor did he come from a family of winemakers.
Fréd’s paternal forbearer and namesake Frédéric had been a successful distiller in Dijon in the middle of the 19th century, profiting greatly from the boom in Absinthe. The business prospered and Frédéric acquired the Château de Chambolle-Musigny in 1863 from the Morey-Mange family, along with a few hectares of vineyards. The family added the Clos de la Marechale in 1902. The Domaine was managed for a period by Maison Faiveley and later by Bernard Clair, the cask wine being sold off in barrel to négoces. Although Fréd’s father occasionally visited the Château, he remained very removed from the winemaking and the vineyards. It was not until 1984, at the age of almost thirty, that Fréd Mugnier took an interest in his vineyards, and enrolled at the Lycée Viticole.
In the twenty-five years since taking the helm as a relative novice, Frédy Mugnier has emerged as one of the dominant influences in Burgundy, producing some of the most elegant and compelling examples of Pinot Noir.
Appellations: Chambolle-Musigny, Bonnes-Mares, Musigny, Nuits-Saints-Georges
COUNTRY
● France
● REGION
● Burgundy
● APPELLATIONS
● Chambolle-Musigny, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Musigny,Bonnes-Mares
● WINEMAKER
● Frédéric Mugnier
● FOUNDED
● 1880
● VINEYARD AREA
● 14 Hectares
● FARMING
● Lutte Raisonée
● WEBSITE
● mugnier.fr
