Michelin Guide’s Highest Accolade for Our Winery

Hello,

since the 7th of July, the highest accolade the Michelin Guide awards to wine estates is called: three grapes. In Dijon, the Guide assessed wine producers for the very first time. Exactly nine received the top rating:

Cécile Tremblay. Dugat-Py. Roumier. Romanée-Conti. Leroy.
D’Auvenay. Coche-Dury. Hubert Lamy.
And: Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley, Volnay.

Most of these names appear more frequently in auction catalogues than on laid tables. Bouley is in our cellar: nine wines, from the Aligoté at 26 € to the Premier Cru. Three grapes, according to the Guide, denote producers of exceptional standing whose wines can be trusted regardless of vintage. Or, in the words of director Gwendal Poullennec: “excellence is not defined solely by the prestige of a name. It is expressed above all through the precision of the work carried out both in the vineyard and in the cellar”.

Thomas Bouley in the vineyards of Volnay, three grapes from the Michelin Guide

Eight Hectares, 29 Parcels

In 2002, Thomas Bouley joined his father Jean-Marc at the age of twenty, determined to bring the domaine to the very top. For a long time he was mentioned in the same breath as Frédéric Lafarge. Since the 7th of July, those conversations have changed entirely. One need not regard the Guide as the final word: Bouley had been on our shelves long before any grapes were awarded.

Spread across 29 parcels in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune; a team that works with such meticulous attention to detail that a single member of staff may tend only a few hectares. Organic in practice without certification, with biodynamic influences. “It’s about healthy grapes,” says Thomas, “not ideology.” In the cellar: whole bunches, spontaneous fermentation, 15 to 20 months in barrel and never more than 50 % new oak, so that the fruit leads. Fining and filtration remain the exception.

The barrel cellar of Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley in Volnay

The Wines

Nine Bouleys are available. Six of them in detail today, in ascending order, until the Premier Cru takes centre stage at the end.

Bourgogne Aligoté 2021

Aligoté · Burgundy · ca. 26 €

A 0.25-hectare parcel at the foot of the Meursault hill, aged eight to ten months in barrel. Granny Smith and limequat, a touch of fresh grass, with lime zest and a saline finish. Connoisseurs declare this entry-level wine dangerously moreish. We are inclined to agree.

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Bourgogne Côte d’Or Pinot Noir 2021

Pinot Noir · Côte d’Or · ca. 39 €

From 0.97 hectares on the lower Volnay slope: fully destemmed, two weeks of open-top fermentation, twelve months in barrel with just 10 % new oak. Ripe cherries and raspberry over wet pebbles, silky tannins, vibrant fruit. Bouley’s signature at a regional wine price.

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Volnay AOC 2021

Pinot Noir · Volnay · ca. 77 €

The village wine by which the domaine can be judged: vines averaging 34 years of age, open fermentation vats, 18 months in barrique with a quarter new oak. Barberry and cranberry, a hint of sour cherry, juicy, with a pleasantly bitter, lingering finish. The cool, classical 2021 alongside the sun-ripened 2020: both available, and the comparison is well worth making.

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Volnay “Vieilles Vignes” 2021

Pinot Noir · Volnay · ca. 98 €

Old vines, low yields. More concentrated and profound than the village wine, yet with a lively acidity and an almost fragile grace – the texture for which Volnay is so revered.

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Volnay “Clos de la Cave” 2021

Pinot Noir · Volnay, Lieu-dit · ca. 98 €

A walled lieu-dit, hand-harvested, with oak deliberately restrained. Silky elegance, a slender 13 per cent. For guinea fowl, mushrooms, or a long conversation.

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The Premier Cru

Volnay 1er Cru “Carelle sous la Chapelle” 2021

Pinot Noir · Volnay 1er Cru · ca. 175 €

Calcareous clay on the mid-slope, close to the chapel that gives the lieu-dit its name. Extended maceration, judicious new oak: floral notes, red berries, the characteristic spice of the site, a slender 13.5 per cent. The precision of which Poullennec spoke. And given that the neighbours on this list fetch four-figure sums at auction, 175 € feels almost like an oversight.

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Of the 2020 Premier Cru, exactly three bottles remain in stock; alongside the Volnay 2020 and the Vieilles Vignes 2020. And for those wishing to explore the house style across three levels: Aligoté, Côte d’Or and Volnay together for ca. 142 €, added to your basket in one click → (Experience suggests it is wiser to click twice.)

All wines by Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley →

Would you like a recommendation for which Bouley suits your occasion? Simply reply to this email.

Warm regards from Berlin,

David & the team at
Living Wines

P.S.: If one glass belongs with Volnay, it is the Zalto Burgundy – it captures precisely the floral delicacy that defines these wines.