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Domaine Boris Champy

Winemakers should note that you do not get any extra points for quoting one of the greatest bands of all time on the door to the barrel cellar. But Boris Champy certainly has impeccable musical taste—I immediately clocked the lyrics to Monkey Gone To Heaven by the Pixies. Why? Champy is a winemaker for whom biodiversity and making wine without using anything that harms the planet are central tenets, going with Frank Black’s anthem about animal extinction. One example is his usage of cover crops between vine rows: barley, red and white clover, some peas and fava beans (as long as they don’t grow too tall.) These help to replenish potassium levels that can be leached from the soils in heavy rains, a viable and ecologically sound alternative to using chemicals.

“It was a beautiful growing season with warm conditions,” Champy tells me. “I’m happy that I worked in California as I learned the strategies to use with higher temperatures: no de-leafing, early de-budding in the season, pruning early and then later by hand. These were good to do in 2022 and fantastic in 2023. The harvest began on August 27. There was very easy sorting of the grapes. Out of 300 crates for the Clou 377, there was just one crate that needed to be sorted out, so it is 100% whole bunches.”

“All the Aligoté, picked September 22 and 23, was matured in 500 and 600-liter barrels. Since 2021, before racking, we do a bâtonnage and rack ‘dirty’ with the lees and leave them for three months in tank before bottling. The wines are not filtered as they are already very clean, but it still takes a month for the lees to fall out. When we rack the bottles into tank, we can then use the lees from the previous vintage for the new one. The challenge of Burgundy now is retaining acidity. We have normal TA and pH on all our cuvées, while the Pinots have a higher pH, around 3.55 and 3.60, where we would like to be 3.50. But the alcohol levels are all below 13%. As for the reds, I have not used a yeast starter since 2006. Volatile acidity levels and Brettanomyces levels are higher than what we usually see.”

Champy’s ascent has been rapid since establishing his namesake domaine in the picturesque village of Nantoux, about a 5-minute drive from Pommard. Champy might not have a roster of gleaming Grand Crus to his name, but he has an uncompromising approach to viticulture. He takes modestly sited vineyards to such a high level that you begin doubting the validity of Burgundy’s hierarchy. Though his pair of Beaune Premier Crus might be the highest quality, the “soul” of his range, I feel, lies in his various Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, which utilize whole bunches, 100% in some cases. Some cuvées differ between pneumatic and vertical press wines, with tangible differences. If man is five, the devil is six, and God seven, I don’t know what that makes Champy. But his wines may take you to heaven, especially when you consider what value-for-money they represent.

From Now, For My Latest Trick: Burgundy 2022 (Jan 2024) by Neal Martin

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Domaine Boris Champy

2022 Côteaux Bourguignons

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Altitude

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Clous 377

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Bignon 421

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2022 Bourgogne Blanc Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Montagne 382

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