Young Pierrick Bouley has been working with his father Pascal in the past years and gradually taking over the estate. Beginning with the 2016 vintage, new foreign customers will see the wines under the label "Pierrick Bouley,” French customers will continue to see the estate’s wines under the "Réyane et Pascal Bouley" label, and existing foreign customers will be able to choose whether they want to switch to the new name. The négociant wine(s) (see below) will be under the "Pierrick Bouley” label, regardless of where sold.
Pierrick said that 2016 was about like 2012 (one of the years of severe hail damage in Volnay) in quantity. As for style, he said that the wines were more typically Burgundian than 2015, characterized by good freshness. The wines were racked a month ago and presented in drawn-off barrel samples.
Harvesting here began on 20 September and finished on the 27th. There was very little triage. All bunches were destemmed. There was no chaptalization other than 1 kg of sugar added to the Bourgogne. Nor was there any acidification. Four wines have not received any SO2 up to now. There was less pigeage (punching down) than previously, now only two times in three weeks.
Malolactic fermentations took place in November and December. Pierrick said that he was thinking of bottling the wines at the end of the year because they taste so good now.
As with most estates that I’ve visited so far, there is an appellation that was not made in 2016. Here, it was Beaune. For the appellations that were made, you’ll see pitifully low yields for most of them. Keep reading until the end, though, for fortunately it is the last three wines that turned out commercial yields. The silver lining in this year of disastrous yields is that the three best vineyards were the ones that did not suffer from the freeze and so produced decent quantities of wine (indeed, the Champans and Clos des Chênes were abundant).
2016 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Abbaye de Morgeot (white)
This is a négociant wine and in all markets it will be sold under the Pierrick Bouley label. There are two barrels here, both two years old. The wine is smooth, rich, mineral, and long. A very good effort. (89-92)
2016 Bourgogne-Passetoutgrains
As usual, the mixture here is 1/3 Gamay, 2/3 Pinot Noir. What’s not usual is that the yield was just 5-1/2 hl/ha. The nose shows smoky red fruits. The mouth features smoky blue fruits and some cherries, and the texture is fleshy. (86-89)
2016 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
The yield for this wine is 8.3 hl/ha. So far, there’s been no SO2 added to this wine. The nose and mouth both show red fruits. In the mouth, the wine is long and salty with good density and balance. (88-91)
2016 Monthélie Aux Fournereaux
5.25 hl/ha here. The nose shows ripe crushed blackberry fruit. The mouth is dense and pure with good structure to support the wild blackberry fruit. If this wine were available in any quantity, it would be a no-brainer. (88-92)
2016 Volnay
10 hl/ha. This wine had received no SO2 at the time I tasted it. This wine is dense and dark-fruited, intense, chewy, and long. It is more powerful than the foregoing wines. (89-92)
2016 Pommard
12.8 hl/ha. This wine is mostly from the Chanlins lieu-dit, on white soils above Rugiens. As one would expect, there’s more structure here than in the previous wines. The density is about the same as for the Volnay, and theres good length. The wine is quite open for the moment. (88-92)
2016 Monthélie 1er Cru Les Clous
13.8 hl/ha here. More finesse in this wine, but it still is quite dense. The red and dark fruits are augmented by salinity and minerality and there is good length here. (90-93)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Robardelles
7.8 hl/ha. This wine is dense, chewy, and saline with dark fruit. It shows less finesse than the Monthélie 1er Cru, though. (88-92)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Ronceret
A little more volume here: 18.6 hl/ha, or roughly half a crop. No SO2 yet added. The wine is dense, mineral, and stony with dark fruits. The texture is stony, and the wine has firmness, and good length. (90-93)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Les Grands Champs
10 hl/ha. Bouley owns the only part of the Grands Champs that is classified as premier cru. The nose is powerful with red fruits and some spiciness. The mouth is medium light with elegance, good length and spicy red and dark fruits. (90-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Les Santenots
26.7 hl/ha. No SO2 yet added. The nose shows spiced blackberries. The mouth is dense with good structure, very deep blackberry fruit, and overall balance. It is a very good representation of wine from the Santenots vineyard. (90-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Les Champans
49 hl/ha. The vines here are 27 years-old, younger than most of the estate’s vines in other vineyards, and so were able to better resist. The nose is spicy and stony. The mouth features intense, spicy, deep red fruits. There some structure here. This is not a fleshy Champans, but the tannins on the finish are ripe. (91-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes
49 hl/ha. Here, too, the vines are younger than most of the estate’s other vines, being only about 30 years-old. The nose is stony and pure. The mouth shows dark fruits and it is sleeker than that of the Champans. The wine shows excellent energy and penetration and one can feel the limestone in the vineyard. The wine also shows good minearlity and length. It should age well. (92-95)