Gilles Bouton – 2014

30.11.2015billn

DSC08815Tasted in Gamay (St.Aubin) with Gilles Bouton, 19 November 2015.

Domaine Gilles Bouton
24 Rue de la Fontenotte
21190 Saint-Aubin
Tel: +33 3 80 21 90 74

Despite the implication of the address, Domaine Gilles Bouton is firmly in the centre of Gamay.

This is a family domaine since at least 1870 and like many in the village comes through the family Langoureau – Gilles Bouton’s maternal grandmother was a Langoureau. Gilles started at the domaine in 1977 when there was just 4 hectares of vines – now there are 15 hectares, and with many parcels of old vines too.

Gilles on the recent vintages:
Since 2012 there’s been hail, so after multiple vintages of only 25 hl/ha there is no more stock. 2014 was back to a normal volume, and 2015 also for whites but definitely not for red.

Gilles’ father said that 2015 resembles 1959, which was good in both colours – which makes Gilles smile as it’s his vintage! We had really beautiful grapes, but just not enough. The whites looked perfect, and some of those whites have already finished their malos.

2014 had nice yields in white, a bit less for the reds of course, but good balance in these.

The wines…

DIAM5 used here. Gilles started with DIAM10 about 5 years ago but found it a little too hermetic, but he’s happy with the 5 and now has less reduction problems! He’s now using much less sulfur too, his first addition comes only after the malo…

I missed a couple of vintages at this domaine – the 2009s were brilliant, proportionally the 2010s less-so despite still being very tasty. But these 2014s are really excellent. And note that ex-domaine, the St.Aubin 1ers cost €16-17 and the Puligny 1ers only €26 – and yes, for these 2014s!

2014 St.Aubin Argillers
Single, steep slope, normally it’s just 1er on such slopes. Bottled just before harvest
Deep yellow fruited nose. Has nice roundness, balance and movement in the mouth. Faintly padded, with a tasty citrus intensity in the mid-palate. A very tasty indeed – concentrated and slightly mineral start. Yum.

2014 St.Aubin 1er En Remilly
4 different parcels of different vine ages, oldest 60, youngest 20. Just assembled.
A trace of reduction, depth of aroma and sweetness of discreet oak. Round but with a really lovely core of acidity, mineral inflected too. Super texture. Excellent.
2014 St.Aubin 1er Dents du Chien
Two parcels 50 and 20 years, one near Puligny Garenne the other lower near Folatieres with redder soil, all elevage in 600 litre barrels, 5 barrels, 2 new.
A deep nose, almost with a Meursault spicy inflection. Lovely texture again, a palate of flavours that melt across your tongue. A little more complexity here. Super line of flavour through the middle of the finish – excellent length – yum!
2014 St.Aubin 1er Champlots
Much clay, white soil, rock too but not the same. More supple, less mineral. Multiple parcels amounting to 3 ha.
A wide, semi-textured nose that’s modestly fresh and of warm citrus yet with a cool top note. Wide and cool in the mouth too. Beautifully wide, actually I find a decent minerality here and a simply super width of finishing flavour. Excellent. More direct than ddc but wider finishing!

2014 St.Aubin 1er Chatagnière
Only one barrel of this.
A brighter citrus note, some depth, less width. Here is a lovely supple wine that follows the contours of your mouth. Very pretty flavours, citrus inflected, of both density and freshness. Lovely, lovely finishing flavour. Just a hint more contemplative, but really excellent.

2014 Chassagne-Montrachet Voillenots Dessous
At the entry of the village near the winery of Moreau.
Deep nose with creamy oak accents, some Chassagne herb above. Bigger in scale, mouth-filling and a little plump texture, but not fat. This is very well-balanced. Deep and impressively finishing – really super with lots of sweetness of fruit. Big, impressive wine.

2014 Puligny-Montrachet 1er La Garenne
3 different parcels of different age vines.
Wide, a little discreet but fresh and subtly spiced. Beautiful line, pure silk, waves of mainly mineral flavour but all accented with complexity of minerals and fruit. Not super intense but cosseting and absolutely delicious…
2014 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Sous les Puits
Deeper soil and some gravel.
A more discreet nose but faintly evolving deeper notes of creamy barrel. Also direct and mineral. A wine of line rather than width – intense line of flavour. A burst of mid-palate to finishing flavour that sparkles with complexity of citrus and mineral. Great finish!

2013 Meursault
On the other side of the wall, with red soil, to Sous les Puits. This 2014 is still in tank so we tried this 2013 first. The only wine that has a longer, 18 month elevage.
Wide, a little vibrant aromatic. Faintly spiced. Wow this is pure mineral, some impression of reductive notes, .perhaps suggesting salinity too in the long finish yum!

2014 Meursault
Assembled into tank, ‘coll poisson’ stay here for another month before bottling.
Pretty, modest nose today. Lovely width in the mouth, mineral and intense but with gorgeous energy – this is particularly lovely. Citrus complexity. Super yum. Bravo! Tannin and sweetness in the finish!

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