A Burgundy Intermezzo 

BY NEAL MARTIN | JULY 17, 2024

During my numerous forays to Burgundy, I managed to fit in a couple of ad hoc visits to producers. Instead of leaving tasting notes for major reports, I decided to publish them without too much delay, a small intermezzo for Burgundy lovers.

Firstly, a new producer, Maison Arnaud Boué, who you’ll find up the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits. The 40-year-old winemaker worked in South Africa and Bordeaux before returning to Burgundy and working for David Duband, amongst others. He always sought his own winery, and once a couple of investors were on board, he renovated a disused maison in the heart of Villers-la-Faye. It’s a bit cramped, to say the least, with some renovation still to be completed, but it’s a functioning winery that suits his needs, though I did worry when he almost seemed to fall into a vat to extract some wine with his pipette! At present, Boué sources fruit through contracted growers, those vines organically certified, and eventually, he plans to acquire his own holdings. Tasting his 2021 and 2022s, this is clearly the opening chapter for Boué, and not every cuvée hits the mark. But I could see the potential with the Côte de Nuits-Villages and Nuits Saint-Georges Village. This is a name to watch out for.

The momentum is when Lucie Coutoux extracts the Bâtard-Montrachet for the first time.

That’s the new, now for something that’s not so much old, but who’s not familiar with Domaine Leflaive? Brice de la Morandière guided me through the 2022s bottled between April and June this year. Usually, I taste these in November during my barrel tastings and publish in January, but why wait? I preferred tasting these bottled wines earlier when it is quieter. Discussing the warmth of that season, de la Morandière told me: “We have learned a lot in terms of managing heat and precocity since the 2011 and 2012 vintages. These 2022s have the same acidity and alcohol as previous years, but there is no over-ripeness. The vines learn a lot. There is a subtlety that I find attractive.” Of course, these were made by winemaker Pierre Vincent, and they bear his magic touch, a wondrous set of wines with pinpoint acidity and clarity. The 2022 Bienvenue-Bâtard-Montrachet has the audacity to outshine the Bâtard, while the Combettes is my pick of the Premier Crus. In addition, I tasted a couple of wines from their fast-expanding holdings in the Mâconnais, which will be included in my annual report.

Finally, I made a long overdue return to Domaine Michel Niellon. This was one of the first producers I ever visited, with the late Michel Niellon and unmistakable bushy mustache ever-present. With a couple of free hours after my tasting at Leflaive and before a quick bite to eat at bistro La Dilettante, I visited with current winemaker Michel Coutoux, Niellon’s son-in-law, who joined back in 1991. Their winery is in the same unit as Domaine Philippe Colin (now Simon Colin), which affords them a clean, temperature-controlled, capacious work environment. After tasting the 2022s that were picked from August 25 after some vines showed signs of hydric stress, Coutoux had to nip off. So, his daughter Lucie, who has also been involved on the winemaking side for several years, came in from the vines to guide me through the 2023s from barrel. “In August, we had ten days over 40°C, which can destroy acidity, and that made us afraid because we do not want a heavy Chardonnay,” she told me. “The 2023s were picked from September 4 over six days. I remember that it was very hot. The challenge was to keep the acidity.”

Again, rather than sitting on these for several months until I publish my report, I decided to let these notes “go free” now, not least because they hold so much promise. Chassagne-Montrachet is such a hotbed at the moment with young winemakers, and Niellon’s wines have wonderful acidic spines. Apropos 2023, there is much talk about high yields and consequent dilution, but I found none here. Readers should also note the inclusion of the Bâtard-Montrachet that returns after the vines were pulled up in 2016. I was the first person to taste this. Though the fledgling vines seem to limit complexity, especially when compared to the superlative Chevalier-Montrachet, I have little doubt that this parcel will produce great wines in the future. In Lucie, who works alongside fellow fourth-generation winemaker Matthieu Bresson, it looks like this great domaine is in safe hands.

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