2020 | Domaine Pierrick Bouley | Volnay 1er Cru Robardelle

The darker side of purple, with good fruit density on the nose, dark raspberry. Starts well and then swells to the back, ripe strawberry as well as raspberry, fills out very attractively with a fine long finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Bouley produced three barrels of the lovely 2020 Volnay 1er Cru Robardelle, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered wine evocative of sweet cherries, berries, loamy soil and petals. With lively acids and powdery structuring tannins, it's seamless and elegant.

• Burghound: A relatively floral nose speaks mostly of dark pinot fruit that is trimmed in soft wood influence. The notably finer middle weight flavors possess a sophisticated texture that is succulent but punchy while exhibiting a touch of austerity on the dusty, lingering and balanced finale. Lovely. *Burghound Outstanding!

Producer Information

There are two branches of the Bouley family in Volnay, Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley and Réyane & Pascal Bouley. The former is slightly better known, though unfortunately my planned visit had to be cancelled after lockdown. Given the impressive quality of the 2019s that I tasted from the latter, it would not surprise me if Réyane & Pascal Bouley becomes one of Volnays most sought-after producers. The winery is located opposite the central church in the heart of the village. Young winemaker Pierrick Bouley escorted me down to their small cellar to taste their latest vintage. “I am the sixth generation,” he told me. “My grandfather Pierre Bouley married Odile Rossignol, the daughter of Jean Rossignol. Pierre’s son Pascal is the cousin of Jean-Marc Bouley. I have been at the domaine since 2009 and my first vintage alone was in 2014.” Given his excellent English I wasn’t surprised when he told me that he spent one month working at Felton Road. I asked Bouley about his tenets towards winemaking. “It is very important to have very beautiful fruit - I am a vine grower rather than a winemaker. This year, 2020, is our first conversion to organic with certification hopefully in 2023. We haven’t been using chemicals or herbicides for maybe 20 years. There is very little ploughing in our nine hectares of vines that is comprised of 41 plots, the largest only 0.70 hectares. We have a lot of old vine stock with many parcels around 60-years-old. The oldest is almost a century old in Pommard. Since 2019 there is no rognage [hedging] to have no verjus and allow the sun to focus on bunches. There is no green harvesting. I prefer to have smaller yields and aim for early maturity. In 2019 we began the picking on 11 September. Everything is de-stemmed for all the cuvées. After a 2-3 weeks natural cuvaison we transfer into vats with no enzymes or yeast addition. We don’t use SO2 during the alcoholic fermentation, just during the racking and before bottling, only 50mg/l in total. The wines mature in barrel for 12 months, the malolactic usually at the end of the alcoholic fermentation. The cellar here is quite cold and I must have gas in barrels to conserve the wines without SO2. I used around 20-25% new oak across the range. The alcohol levels in 2019 were around 13.5°, the maximum 13.6° in the Volnay Clos des Chênes. After 12 months the wine is bottled at the end of October after a month in vat, with no filtration.” I was first introduced to these wines at Les Grands Jours three years ago. I found them promising back then and I’m even more impressed by their range of 2019s. Think Michel Lafarge and you will know where I am coming from: Pinot Noir with great transparency, finesse, elegance and terroir expression. Much of this derives from their stock of naturally low-yielding old vines and Pierrick Bouley will admit that he does not have to do a great deal to obtain top quality wine. His hands-off approach is definitely the right way to go and without trying to sound banal, I just found nearly all these 2019s absolutely delicious, from their Bourgogne Passetoutgrains up to their Premier Crus. I concur with Bouley that the 2019s are a cut above their 2018s. The four that I tasted did not convey the same degree of elegance, felt almost chunky by comparison. Certainly, this is a producer that I would recommend in 2019 and I look forward to tasting again in the future.

DISCLAIMER** This is a single item listing unless otherwise noted in the description. Retailer advises either in stock or in route to their location. Usually ships within one to four business days. Longer processing times may occur especially around holiday(s). Some items may become backordered or delayed without notice due to demand & will ship out upon arrival. Overseas 700ml products typically have longer processing/transit times. You can always verify product availability by calling 1-888-548-0333. Please refer to our cancellations & returns agreement or reach out to our support team at help@caskcartel.com for any additional questions.

Our dedicated team specializes in creating personalized shopping experiences. If you’re looking for a specific item or collection that isn’t appearing on our marketplace, please reach out to us at concierge@caskcartel.com or fill out the product inquiry form and one of our dedicated team members will be in touch.  Whether it’s a product you’ve experienced while traveling or a rare, hard to find item you’ve been searching for, we have an established global network of retailers with the ability to locate and source the rarest and hardest to find products.