Tasted in ‘Corcelette’ with Daniel Bouland, 13 February 2024.
Domaine Daniel Bouland
Corcelette 69910
Villié-Morgon
Tel: +33 6 81 30 89 12
More reports with Domaine Daniel Bouland
Daniel on 2023:
“I think that 2023 may be in a very similar style to 2022 from roughly the same harvest volume – I’ll be bottling around May. My Chiroubles had some hail so I had to do triage but I think there was no visible effect.”
Daniel on 2022:
“It was a relatively easy year in the vines – a sunny year with less need to treat – the weeds were only slowly growing. But it was difficult from the perspective of fermentations – that’s the counter-side of an ‘easy’ vintage – though we got there. We thought there might be a bit more juice before we pressed – it’s not too bad – it’s nature and it’s a good vintage. We missed a day of rain to make it the best but I’m not complaining. The 2022s are not just all bottled, they are practically all gone – I had a lot of demand – one wine – Corcelette I don’t even have a sample. But I think it’s a very lovely vintage – 23 will be similar – we had much less rain than The Côte d’Or – just as well as we’d have had too large yields – but what we had is still concentrated.”
If Daniel is happy with his wines, he’s currently more pessimistic about the general market: “I see a crisis coming in wine though – they are pulling up vines in Bordeaux, it’s so hard right now for vignerons in Côte du Rhone too – we say the crisis always starts in the south and here, not in the south, the negociants are not pushing to buy…”
The wines…
I couldn’t see 13.5-14% alcohols in these wines – I could only see great wines – what a great range of 2022s…
2022 Chiroubles
Not really a sandy soil here.
Fresh, dark cherry, just a faint spice in the complexity. Large in scale – frank in attack – here is a mouthful of wine. The finish holding with impressive scale too. Ooh – take the punch now or wait 2-3 years? but this is excellent wine – maybe a great wine for an ‘entry’ wine!
2022 Côte de Brouilly Cuvée Mélaine
South-facing, quite volcanic bluestone soil, the older vines directly above Château Thivin.
Great depth of colour. Vibrant nose, plenty of dark fruit and graphite mineral complexity. Hmm, a little more relaxed over the palate but certainly not less concentrated – but this wine is more accessible today. Almost a flowing fluidity to the middle flavours – I love this – Maybe just an ounce more energy needed for perfection but this is close to a great wine!
Leaving Villié-Morgon as you head to Fleurie near Doubie. This with elevage in a relatively recent Foudre.
Here there’s a higher-toned and much more perfumed floral accent. Here is extra fluidity, and tons of perfume to the flavours – here is the extra energy that I would have liked in the Côte de Brouilly. Here is a great wine. So Long too!!
Morgon Bellevue is split into two cuvées – one for the sand and one for the stones – different porte-greffes (root-stocks/plant material) here too – both with concrete tank elevage. “Yes, the soil is completely different but it’s only a small track that separates them… :”
On sand, on a special porte-greffe which has a low production on a steeper slope. Cement tank elevage – with epoxy coating.
A broad width of aroma – more airy – finer red fruit – that’s a great invitation. Hmm, what another great wine – fluid, energetic, this time framed with a small grain of tannin but such depth of wonderful flavour. Simply another great wine!
This on the stones, but also older vines.
A hint more colour? A less open complexity – despite the scale of this nose – it’s a more granular complexity like a Vosne. Concentrated more supple than fluid but with no lack of balance and great energy. In isolation I’d be just as happy with this intense finishing wine – but side by side I have a small preference for the ‘sand’ today. But this is great wine and it will probably live longer too – what a great middle and finishing flavour!
2022 Morgon Les Delys
This the younger vine cuvée with a mix of vines from the 1970s and 1980s – from more than 2 hectares around the house.
Here’s a good width of aroma – fewer hooks into the various aromas – more a darker, and brooding, style. In the mouth, however, this has scale, energy, and concentration too. Becoming so impressive in the middle and finishing flavours that I expect this has a good shout at being great too – but it’s a nose short of that today. The finish is properly great!
Of course the name is the age of the vines – ‘There’s no replacements in the vineyard – they are too old and I can’t find the grafts I need – that’s a big problem in general!’
This nose is not as large as the last but it’s more open with pure floral perfumes. Cool fruit that’s more direct and intense – framed with a grain of tannin. The flavours broadly wash over the palate. Fading yet holding – intense, wide – it’s not about volume in this finish, it’s about character – and what character. This is actually the easier to drink of this pair too, today. Also a potentially great wine and more obviously so than the ‘younger vine’ version today.
The Corcelette old-vines is also split into sand (stainless-steel elevage) and stones (foudre) – some of the oldest vines here are from 1925:
A narrower nose – also starting tighter in the top notes – but what depth – some of the graphite of earlier wines – and very, very slowly showing rounder, more floral in the top notes – certainly a more subtle nose. Fluidity and concentration – perfectly combined. Such a supple yet architecturally impressive wine – The finishing flavour is as broad as the last but with more volume too. Another grand wine – that will also benefit from a more open aromatic in the future!
From magnun – there are no more bottles…
Here is more open florality – a nose that’s already well in place with many fascinating dimensions. A wine that starts with good width but energetically widens even further. There is an underpinning with fine-grained ripe tannin. Depth and clarity to this obviously concentrated but sufficiently fluid wine. Clearly great – and why not in magnum too – what a length of finish!!
And a blanc? Vines in St.Jean des Vignes:
2022 Beaujolais Blanc
From a vineyard in the Pierres Doées – ‘I don’t think chardonnay works here in the sand!’
A depth and richness to this wine – ripe but not exotic. Hmm, here is energy and some juicy character too. Certainly, there’s the concentration of ripe fruit but this is extremely tasty and even a little incisive finishing – it finishes well – inviting another sip!