Tasted in Beaune with Frédéric Weber, November 16 2018.
Bouchard Père et Fils
15 Rue du Château
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 24 80 24
www.bouchard-pereetfils.com
Fred on 2017:
“I’m very happy with 2017. A good vintage from a season that was favourable and uncomplicated – virtually all the facets proved easy – we made a good yield. 2017 started with a cold winter, this helped to reduce maladies, and following that we had quite low danger of mildew and oïdium. It’s a vintage that is marked by its earliness; it was quite warm in March, a Spring that was warm, punctuated by storms but fortunately without damaging incidents such as hail. We saw a good development of grapes from the flowers. Part of August was something of a heat wave. Not a complicated vintage, except for having to choose the right dates to harvest – from the perspective of perfect ripeness. Conditions had some similarities to 2011 in terms of weather and the potential softness of the wines, but in the end we had quite high maturities – sometimes like 2015. We took 16 days to do all the harvesting. It’s clearly not a vintage of great concentration and so we didn’t force that – no remontage, almost no pigeage – infusion if you like. Some hydric stress blocked certain maturities so the pips were not always ripe or at least as ripe as the stems and skin.
“Strong maturities in the whites this vintage, so it was stressful to choose the picking dates. We still waited for the maturity though, for the more golden grapes, and then came some late rain, the grapes inflated a little and the stress for maturity was eased and the tartaric acidity seemed to increase a little – the malic was already nearly gone. We started later than many the 6 September but still with the aim to conserve the acidity. We pressed less hard and faster, completely eliminating the potassium-rich last part of the press so we didn’t lose that tartaric which we’d saved. Short fermentations too to guard the purity of the chardonnay. We had many wines with 13-14° so we were very careful with the wood – hoping to avoid excess wood – so did a racking for all new barrels into tank in June with some fine lees. Will probably have all bottled by the end of the year.”
The wines…
It was always going to be hard to follow their great 2015s and their simply spectacular 2016s – but 2017 is a more than good effort – the best wines are best wines – if that makes sense – so the greatness of wines does not reach so deep through the range in 2017 as those previous vintages.
All the red wines here are samples from barrel, not many have been racked yet. Bottling to start in Feb and March.
2017 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières
An interesting nose with fine depth of fruit and a soil note. Supple, super depth, modestly coated with oak, but long, delicious with some bitter tang on the end of the palate – super length – this seems a vineyard that did really well at most estates in 2017.
2017 Beaune 1er Clos de la Mousse
This is a 3.36 hectare monopole next to Les Avaux. It’s a deep and dense clay soil that’s rich in lime so needs 5 or 6 days more time to mature compared to Grèves – but it never suffers from drought as there are some springs.
A high tone over tighter redder fruit. Supple again, opening out, purer fruit expression much more modest tannin – at least the bitter aspects of the tannin in the Lavières. Fine concentration and equally fine texture. Fruit-forward and delicious…
2017 Beaune 1er Grèves L’Enfant Jesus
Four different plot with different vine ages – 45 and 65 years old at the bottom and 25 plus 35 years old at the top – that’s one day difference in terms of ripeness – 0.5 ha recently replanted.
High toned again but more open and complex, a powdery aspect to the fruit. Silky, a wine of energy and drive, a modest depth of. Very fine tannin. Wide, interesting partly unformed but long…
2017 Volnay 1er Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot
A 3.75 hectares in 4 plots, the hail impact different in each plot. A sunny place so maturity comes very quickly here, so together with Enfant Jesus (Grèves) usually the first to be harvested – just 50 cm of soil before the limestone. A normal harvest 40 hl/ha!
A little more aromatic power, floral. Volume nicely round, melting, more floral -inflected red fruit. Lovely complexity of very faintly spiced fruit. Hmm the best yet in the mid and long finishing flavours today…
2017 Le Corton
A powdery nose. More volume, more openly structured but with a fineness of melting and completely super flavour. Ooh that’s really good finishing. Excellent wine!
2016 Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Cailles
One hectare from this 3ha, flat, appellation. Small chalky pebbles. Usually one of first to be harvested in Côte de Nuits; 40 year-old vines.
Depth, dark fruit, very inviting if a slight reduction. Mobile flavour, suffers slightly from following that super Corton in the first flavours, but not in the mid and finishing flavours. A beautiful finishing panorama of flavour, but today I’d take the Corton ahead of this… last drops in the glass smell very much nicer so the reduction is now gone…
Half a hectare in 2 parcels, one next to Grands-Echézeaux and a lower parcel – this lower parcel is being replanted, so this is only the former parcel for now, the first vintage alone
More aromatic concentration. Ooh, that’s so silky, so complex, and layered, easily the most interesting wine so far – great and a peacock’s tail of a finish – bravo – super wine.
2017 Echézeaux
Domaine from the Combe.
A touch of reduction to the nose. Super volume in the mouth, less concentrated but great energy and very fine complexity. Less ready but a wine of fine complexity, if more visible structure…
0.25 ha towards chambolle on red soil. A masalle selection and old vines too. Usually only a couple of barrels, so often only sold from Bouchard’s ‘factory shop’ in Beaune.
A deep nose again – no reduction to blame. Great volume in the mouth – like a cross between the echezeaux and clos vougeot in structure – full, not quite drying, deliciously, beautifully textured. Long. Less ready than Clos de Vougeot perhaps only because of that I prefer the Vougeot. Still a great wine.
Chapelle is about aroma, Bèze is more austere during elevage.
Really plenty of colour here. A super volume of aroma – equally fruity and floral. Drive, freshness, energy, great texture – at least, indeed probably more, complexity than Clos de Vougeot but also there’s more oak in the mix, so that‘s possibly to blame. Great wine all the same.
Les Blancs…
2017 Beaune 1er du Château
10 hectares worth of vines. 5 premiers finally assembled at racking time.
A nose of herb and depth, good freshness, a hint of both wood and citrus. Volume and freshness in the mouth, a cool aspect to the fruit, good energy, faintly oaked (texture) and a good line of saline accented flavour but all is more structure than fruit.
2017 Beaune 1er Clos St.Landry
A 2 hectare Clos. Since the 13th century this place was always used to make white wine. A marne soil here.
A finer width of aroma – very faintly toasted. Easy entry, a little soft style but full of energy and a modest complexity – very slightly spiced in the finish.
2017 Meursault Les Clous
8.60 ha of domaine vines, high on the hillside. White clay and limestone not far below the surface. ‘A Meursault of white-soiled altitude.’
A roundness but not fully expressive today. Supple for a white, extra volume of cool flavour, easy over the palate, long, tasty wine.
2017 Meursault 1er Genevrières
2.65 hectares from two plots; one from above the road to Chassagne which is a steep slope of old vines. The second, a more stony plot that brings freshness and minerality. They are separately vinified, before eventual blending.
Hmm, a nose that’s a little more open. Lovely shape in the mouth – round, melting, easy over the palate – seductive wine with a subtle complexity. Absolutely delicious.
2017 Meursault 1er Les Perrières
From 3 different plots totalling 1.2 hectares. Again with separate elevage but blended together at the end.
More depth and freshness, less wide. Fresher, more energy, a clear limestone style to the wine – open and pure. More melting, finishing energy. More overt personality today.
Maximum new oak is 20% for the Charlemagne, the highest being that is 15%:
300m height, 3.85 hectares at the top of the hill, just above their Les Corton, east oriented with rows planted north-south, the intention being to preserve freshness. It’s important to wait for the maturity here.
Ooh the most open nose here, citrus and melon fruited, fresh, energetic. Extra volume, mineral, clean, a certain architecture to the shape here. Ooh this is superior wine for sure. Bravo – and just soooo long!
2.30 from the 4 terraces, now assembled, completing elevage in tank. More complicated – we have 2.3 ha in the 4 terraces.
Extra-bright nose, grapefruit and citrus. Volume like the Charlemagne but more open perhaps an even a larger space. Beautifully textured, some layering of finishing – this year the finish is greater here – bravo!
Bought in 1838
A complex nose, slightly behind the Chevalier today – but not by much! Fabulous volume in the mouth, almost a red- wine style to the volume and depth of texture. More power than any previous white, more complex, even a phenolic touch of tannin. More here than any other wine, but drink the Chevalier before this, it’s more delicious today – I’m not sure that will be the case in another 5 years…