New Volnay Superstar Pierrick Bouley's Epic Clos de Chenes Plus an Unknown 1er Cru (Robardelle) That Is 8HL/HA Psychotic

Can't Miss 2016 Vintage
Young Superstar Coming in to His Own
 - Still Very Inexpensive Direct from the Winery Prices

2016 Pierrick Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Clos des Chenes"
 - Amazing Clos de Chenes for $59.99
 - Ridiculous, Classic Floral Nose
 - Wall of Flavor on the Palate

2016 Pierrick Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Robardelle"
 - Crazy Low Yields (8 HL/HA)
 - Mega, Mega Deep Nose - a Knockout
 - Intense Palate with Nuclear Levels of Fruit
 - Old Vines, Tiny Berries
 - A Collector's Dream
 - $56.99 Compare Rossignol-Fevrier at $100-$110

I've been visiting wineries for almost 13 years now. There is a magical experience that happens every

so often. My visit to Pierrick Bouley was magic. The winery formerly known as Reyane & Pascal Bouley is now called Pierrick Bouley.  The winery is firmly in Pierrick's control now and his vision is driving the winery. It's a different vision than his father's. The wines still have the DNA of the Pascal Bouley that we know and love but know they are clearly Pierrick. I tasted 16 and a sampling of 17s as well to get a sense of the style. 16 is such a freak vintage (more on that soon) that I wanted to also taste something from the very young, but very promising and more normal 2017 vintage to really assess where Pierrick is as a winemaker. If I could boil it down to one word it is finesse. There is a level of finesse that really ups the ante here. There is wonderful freshness which results in wines of exceptional purity. There is still the spine and structure of the Pascal Bouley wines. These will age gloriously. The fruit is still vivid and sappy. Refined but built to age. Pierrick is lifting this estate to new heights and I'll be very interested to see what Burghound and other critics think as I think there is a noticeable uptick in quality from 2015 to 2016 here... as much I think as there was from 2014 to 2015.

Pierrick Bouley was victimized by frost in 2016. Lots of it. Frost knoweth no terroir.  Yields were the wackiest crazy low numbers I've ever heard at any estate in my life. Volnay Robardelles is 10 hl/ha. Pommard is 12.5 hl/ha. Volnay is 18 hl/ha. But some vineyards had a bit better luck. Some wines they made one barrel (260-300 bottles). Others there are more barrels. Overall Pierrick was down 60% from 2015. Unreal. But what wines he made. These are collector's dreams. It's like Burgundy cubed. I love low yield Burgundy as it's not Syrah like, which is what you would think, but it's more Pinot Noir cubed. It's more essence of Pinot. I find '16 is a more Pinot vintage than '15. The wines here are exceptional and the best vintage I've tasted here. Each wine is magic. Just so good. So energetic and the fruit. My god the fruit on these wines is unreal. But of note is that in Champans and Clos du Chenes Pierrick had normal yields and the wines were just as remarkable as the low yield Pinot freak shows. Pierrick has arrived. This vintage reminds me of 2010 but more fruit. It's a can't miss vintage.

Pierrick has raised his prices due to the losses and the leap in quality he has made as a winemaker. Up first is one of his top Volnays and Pierrick is pricing it a bit closer to market.

Up first is the 2016 Pierrick Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Clos des Chenes" for $59.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. There is still not a better deal in Clos des Chenes which is arguably the best and most ageworthy terroir in all of Volnay. It's like Meursault Perrieres in that it has an terrific amount of gravel and stones with very poor soil. This was served last to me out of barrel and on the day I tasted, rainy crappy weather, the wines were all singing like I've never heard or tasted or smelled at Bouley. The notable step up in complexity until you get to the infinitely complex Clos des Chenes is amazing in 2016. The nose is super complex and super floral. Really layered.  Just so much nuance and different types of flowers and the classic stoniness of great Clos des Chenes. The nose starts to emanate intense deep mineral.  Lavender and lilacs are the florals and there is a deep cherry core but that will take age to unwind. Clos des Chenes is one of the few wines I taste out of barrel here where I'm like man this is young. Obviously all the wines are young but the Clos des Chenes puts your palate in a nice grip.  I find Clos des Chenes to be one of the most stoney wines aromatically and this is gloriously stoney.  The palate just had a wall of flavor. It assaults you. It's incredibly pure and deep and very very young. There is a massive core here that will need years to come around. It's enormous and so deep with layers of fruit soaked in minerals. Finished with formidable tannins, very stoney, very mineral and very sweet. This is a great great Clos des Chenes and something to throw deep in the cellar and forget about for 10 years.

Up next I have the opposite in a way, well as far as yields are concerned, the 2016 Pierrick Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Robardelle" for $56.99 a bottle on a 3-Pack. This is super limited as yields were only 8 hl/ha! That is insane.  It's south of Clos du Chenes and Caillrets and sits right below Chevret. Ronceret and Champans lie to the east. So it's surrounded by greatness. Meursault is to the west.  A knockout nose. Stunning. Mid season ripe and cooling cherry and tons of stones. Maybe even a hint of blue/black fruits. Fascinating. Floral notes emerge after some swirling to complicate things. These are very old vines and the grapes were tiny. It really comes across in the nose of this wine. There is a sense of mega mega deepness here. It's brooding. The palate is intense. I know I use intense a lot but man this palate is intense. Almost a paste like feeling or texture. Insane dark to middle season concentrated cherry fruit and so much richness. Remarkably fresh and intensely chewy and so so dense. So sappy and complex. But fresh as a daisy. So much fruit. I mean nuclear levels of fruit. The finish is a squeegee of fruit on your palate. You can tell when the wine is made from tiny berries. Super great wine and will age effortlessly for years. 

With these wines comes a caveat. Allen Meadows tasted the wines in April 2 weeks after bottling and I tasted them in barrel in early February. Meadows critical quote is below. I preferred the 16's and by reading his notes the wines were obviously in bottle shock (no surprise given that they were bottled 2 weeks previously - blasting wine into a bottle is just as bad if not worse than shipping it cross country).


"As a general observation, I was more impressed by the quality of the Bouley 2015s than I was with their '16s. It's possible that this is because those wines that are in bottle were just put there two weeks before my visit and thus the dryness that a few of them display could very well be from the sulfur addition."

2016 Pierrick Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Clos Des Chenes" - $61.99 

($179.97 3-pack) (LIMITED)

2016 Pierrick Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Robardelles" - $58.99

($170.97 3-pack) (LIMITED)