Boisset Jean-Claude – 2012s

Update 20.12.2020(11.3.2014)billn

DSC02907Tasted with Grégory Patriat, in Nuits St.Georges, 28 Jan, 2014.

On the market:

  • Lost a few contracts this year due to some new start-up ‘micro-négoce’ offering double for grapes – this is modest so-far, but has the ability to really distort the market.
  • The market has fairly squarely rejected the screw-cap; markets like Australia demand it, but they are too small in the context of Boisset.
  • Not opted to move to DIAMs as their trials so-far have not proven successful.

On 2012: Bottling this week. “Deeper colours than 2010, the wines are massive, with outstanding aging potential.”

On pricing: “We did what we hope was a reasonable increase: 12%. Our costs were more like +40%!”

The whites.

2012 Bourgogne Aligoté
A bio wine. Elevage was 16 months on oak, none new, the grapes sourced in the Hautes Côtes.
The nose is fresh, spritzy and quite pretty. Great acidity, a serious wine this. I like the finish very much. An excellent aligoté.

2012 Hautes Côtes de Beaune (Blanc)
‘Organic wine’ from grapes sourced just above Savigny – less than 35 hl/ha were delivered. In bottle just 6 hours!
The nose is fresh with lovely high-tones. Intense and certainly longer than the aligoté. Just shy of full ripeness and delivering an insinuating finish. I like this very much and can see myself drinking this on a terrace in the summer sun…

2012 Hautes Côtes de Nuits (Blanc)
Another wine made from low yielding grapes in 2012. Also in bottle about 6 hours.
There’s a little more aromatic depth though, overall, a similar high-toned aromatic profile. There’s more density and intensity – again with lovely acidity. Fine enough, but I’ve a slight preference for the Hautes Côtes de Beaune.

2012 Auxey-Duresses Les Crais
The alcoholic fermentation needed 14 months on this wine – also bottled this day.
There’s a just a hint of sulfur on the nose from the bottling. The palate is fresh, showing lots of energy. Very, very tasty. I bought this in 09 and have a mind to do-so again!

The reds:

We started with something that currently has no name, I’ll leave the explanation to Grégory: “I always wanted to make a wine with ‘no’ sulfur during vinification. I found that it didn’t work with older barrels as the VA would start to shoot up. However, I’ve found that if you use new barrels and only 2cl/barrel of SO2 (just after malo), you get this. I have to say that I’m very pleased with this technical performance…” Then we moved onto the commercial wines:

2012 Bourgogne Pinot Noir, label to be determined…
Just three (new!) barrels of this wine, the low yielding grapes (25hl/ha) sourced just under the 1er cru vineyards of Nuits St.Georges. It was bottled in September
The aroma is really begining to open in the glass. There are plenty of tannins (Greg notes there were more in the [standard] higher sulfur wine). Long flavours – better depth than most BPN’s.

2012 Nuits St.Georges Le Charbonne
These old vines delivered only 20hl/ha in 2012. This was 50% destemmed and bottled only 1 hour before I tasted.
Medium-plus colour and a few whole-cluster aromas. Plenty of tannin here – this wine will need a little time in bottle for the structure to ‘relax’, but the fruit flavour is awesome for a villages.

2012 Chambolle-Musigny Les Chardannes
From 60 year-old vines sitting just under Bonnes-Mares – lots of millerandes in 2012. Destemmed.
Medium-plus colour. The glass needs to be worked to coax out the modest but very pretty aromas. There’s plenty of baseline tannin, ripe tannin. There’s also energy and minerality – concentrated rather than effusive. I think this has real potential, but one to wait for. The last drops in the glass have a nice floral dimension.

2012 Marsannay En Champy
Vines near the village. Lots of millerandes but still managed to get a full yield. Raised in 50 new (Chassin) oak.
A shy but squeaky-clean nose. In the mouth, this is narrower than the Chambolle but does show a beautiful growth of flavour in the mid-palate and on, into the finish. I like this very much!

2012 Beaune 1er Champs Pimonts
From 90 year-old vines “with trunks like trees!”. This will be bottled tomorrow.
High-toned and detailed aromas. There is plenty of width, and depth too. Lots of complexity and a growing mineral dimension. Long and lingering – really 1st class! Unfortunately Grégory had no magnums available for the bottling, next day, so I had to take ‘bottles’!

2012 Beaune 1er Les Grèves
From 70-80 year-old vines. “No-matter what I do, this is always a beast” notes Grégory, “I suppose that’s a good thing though – the personality of the site always comes through.” It will be bottled tomorrow.
Dark aromas that make you think more to the Côte de Nuits. Full, textured, concentrated and yet still growing in flavour. The’s a complexity of dark flavours, this is downright brilliant Beaune – if you like them ‘big’ – but really, really a wine to wait for.

2012 Chambolle-Musigny
“We pay for a full 48hl/ha yield on this contract for organic grapes, whatever happens.” Well, it’s fair to say that they were a long way from that in 2012!
There’s a little reduction here. Rather concentrated in the mouth, and that’s despite following the ‘beast’ that was the Grèves. At the moment everything is a little one-dimensional after that wine. Only the last drops in the glass start to offer a hint of complexity. Fine, but saying too little today.

2012 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
These vines have been ‘organic’ since 2008. %05 whole clusters used this year.
Medium, medium-plus colour. Modest whole cluster aromatics. Plenty of ripe structure with slowly building, insinuating flavours. Long, long, long. Since (even!) 2004 I’ve been a fan of this wine – 2012 is one not to miss!

2012 Clos de la Roche
With this vintage, Grégory has used some (50%) whole clusters for the first time.
This starts with a little reduction, but the aromas become ever-more mineral in the glass. More plush than the Chambolle, there’s lots of concentrated flavour here – a real GC step-up from the Chambolle 1er. Actually, that’s the first time I’ve ever thought that for this wine – easily the best Clos de la Roche that Grégory has produced. Bravo!

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