Tasted in Volnay with Pierrick Bouley, 18 October 2023.
Domaine Pierrick Bouley
5, Place de l’Eglise
21190 Volnay
Tel: +33 3 80 21 61 69
pierrickbouley.com
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Pierrick on 2023:
“Oh yes, I’m very happy – lovely grapes. The decuvages finished about 10 days ago but not everything is in barrel yet. I think if you are young, not an easy vintage – some experience was required. We found the maturities blocked for a while and the flavour didn’t please us so we waited for the 11th to the 25th for harvesting and were happy, though some of the maturity probably came with concentration – we did a lot of triage – about 10% from dried grapes and some shriveled too. On the triage table we didn’t use secateurs – if there was one or two grapes in the bunch that were not good we threw away the cluster. We ended up making our normal 35 hl/ha and I was very happy..”
Pierrick on 2022:
“All is racked – done 6-13 October – and first bottlings probably from the start of December. 01-09 September harvesting but with almost no need to triage – very different to 2023. Quite generous – like 2023 – but we don’t do a lot of de-budding as we have quite old vines with small grapes.”
The wines…
More than few great wines from Pierrick – well done!
2022 Passetoutgrains
70% gamay – 30% pinot is the minimum allowed.
A fine nose with a hint of sharp graphite and wider fresh dark berries. More direct than wide – a wine that’s open and has pretty red fruit with a good finish – again with a little graphite. Fine and fluid this.
2022 Bourgogne Côte d’Or Pinot Noir
From the bottom of the Volnay commune – Lamboits, still on the ‘right side’ of the road.
A more ample and open nose – the fruit without that slightly harder edge of the PTG. Broad and bright – quite incisive starting with a base of grainless tannin – but not drying. Darker fruit and very juicy finishing.
2022 Monthelie Aux Fournereaux
Wide, less forward – elegant red fruit here. Versus the las here is extra silk but still plenty of incisive acidity. Wide waves of finishing flavour here. A wine of obvious intensity but silky with it!
2022 Volnay
Usually about 10 different parcels assembled, 2 of which on the hillside.
A nose of darker depth. More open and melting in style after the Monthelie. Lots of concentration – but not weight – to be seen here. Small finishing bitters round out an interesting, clean, wine with plenty of complexity. Delicious.
2022 Volnay Pluchots
70-year-old vines in the heart of the village, just below Roncerets – a decent size parcel – they don’t separate this every year.
Less forward – but still with an attractive and almost cushioned complexity of aroma. In the mouth though, here we have a wine with a little more structure and quite dark-red fruit. The melting, almost mineral flavour is very fine – a wine to give 2-3 years repose in your cellar to remove the faint austerity – it will be an excellent villages after…
2022 Aloxe-Corton
Redder fruit, perhaps a little almond – completely different aromas. Nicely direct, the tannin is more visible but über-fine grained. A mouth-watering – almost juicy and slightly mineral – style to this finish – the tannin returning with the very last notes. Give it 2-3 years also.
2022 Pommard
Normally 5 parcels but two are being replanted – all on the border of Volnay.
A nose with broader, more muscled fruit but not body-builder! Supple, a mm or two cushioning – here is comfort that you don’t find in the last today. Lovely texture and not a real ‘Pommard structure’ – already tastes very well. A super villages.
White soil, lots of limestone – ‘it’s like the Clos des Chênes.’ Bought in 2007. This was a villages until reclassified in about 2006/7.
Hmm – now we have a step up in clarity and purity of complex fruit – this is super. Mouth-filling but open – the fluidity is tempered by plenty of tannin but no grain. Mouth-watering – this will be a great Monthelie but wait 3-5 years – it’s almost like a Caillerets from Pommard!
2022 Volnay 1er Robardelles
At the top on the road between Chevrets and Santenots Dessous – usually the most concentrated. It’s an old (70) vine of almost half a hectare – roughly 20 hl/ha
Lots of colour. A silkier, more cushioned fruit – darker fruit here – I sense concentration! Great shape and texture a wine that melts in the mouth – concentrated but balanced and supple. That will be a beauty!
Right in the middle of the 1ers at the top of the vineyard. Quite deep soil but with lots of small rocks.
Higher toned red fruit here – a little more clarity than the Robardelles too. Super in the mouth – mobile, fluid and oh-so silky – super-sophisticated texture! The structural is seamless – certainly not drying. The finishing flavour starts with a hint of salintity before the finishing fruit spreads out over the palate. Great Ronceret!
2022 Volnay 1er la Grand Champs Monopole
The monopoly of this 0.24 hectare 1er cru section of the Grand Champs vineyard – many others have Grands Champs – but their’s is villages.
Slightly more clarity than the aromas of the Roncerets and also with a little extra, darker, fruit complexity. Direct and a texture of velour. Fine width over the palate – the tannic grain is ‘just’ visible in the finish but not drying. Finishing very well – lovely.
2022 Volnay 1er Santenots
From Santenots Blanc – ‘When grandfather bought it, it was indeed planted to white but eventually he decided to change’
Lots of colour again. Darker fruit but with fine clarity. Width and showing a grain of tannin framing the flavour. Structural in the middle and finishing flavours – but it’s Santenots! The finish is almost juicy and of obvious red fruit – very nice!
From the northern side of the vineyard, close to Carelles Sous la Chapelle. ‘I often thought our young Champans a little hard, I’ve worked on that’
Another wine with lots of colour. Good aromatic width with excellent definition to the darker fruit. Wow concentration – a frame of tannin – virtually grainless and hardly drying. Here is a wine of power and depth of flavour – don’t touch before it’s 10 years old – but it could be a great one!
Two parcels one next to Monthelie and two-thirds right from the centre of the main part of CdC.
Such a large-scale, deep and also cushioned nose – dark fruit but also with energy – that’s an invitation! Hmm – here’s another practically seamless wine in the mouth. Broad, clean and very slowly fading. That’s a really great CdC