2012 Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouchère 1er Cru

Whether he's making a political statement or has just been unable to find fruit sources up to his quality standards--or both--Henri Boillot is no longer making wines from the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. But he still presents a vast range of white Burgundies at a consistently exciting quality level. Boillot believes the young 2013s have the same potential as the 2008s: "they have fat, energy and a fresh palette of aromas, with a lot of pear character, especially in the Pulignys. The grapes were pulpy, like they were in 2000. It's a classic vintage, and not to drink young. The 2012s are for drinking young."Boillot noted that the 2013s finished very low in sugar due to the high acidity, which gave energy to the yeasts and made for successful fermentations. Unlike in some past years, Boillot was not an early picker: he harvested entirely in early October. He told me that he eliminated at harvest-time the grapes that had been dried out by a heat spike in early July. "Otherwise they would have given the wines a bitter taste." All of the malolactic fermentations were finished and the wines had been sulfited six weeks before I stopped by to taste. Boillot now works almost exclusively with 350-liter barrels. The 2013s will go into cuves before the harvest and be bottled by the end of the year.

Henri Boillot is one of the most vocal advocates about the state of affairs in Volnay. Boillot told me since 1989 he has lost the equivalent of five crops because of hail, which he believes is mostly the result of deforestation that was carried out in 1980s to facilitate industrial expansion in Volnay. Specifically, the Pinot came in at 10-15 hectoliters per hectare, about one-third of normal, while the Chardonnay harvest was a bit more bountiful, but still only 50% of a typical year. The 2012 reds were made by Boillot's son, Guillaume, whom I did not see on this trip. Henri Boillot told me he did very little with the 2012 reds, and that they are the sole work of Guillaume, whose style may turn out to be more restrained than his father's. Henri Boillot was quite matter of fact in saying he would have made richer wines in 2012, while none of Guillaume Boillot's wines are above 13% in alcohol. These are clearly wines of transition. Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how things develop over the coming years here. Henri Boillot continues to make the whites. The 2012s are big, rich Chardonnays that seem best suited to near and medium-term drinking. Boillot plans to focus on fewer appellations and only those where he can get fruit of the quality that meets his standards. As part of this streamlining, Boillot has eliminated his Chassagne village and 1er Cru bottlings. I tasted all of the 2012 whites from bottle last summer.

Henri Boillot used a sorting table for 100% of his white grapes in 2012 for the first time in his career, in order to eliminate dried grapes, burned grapes and those affected by hail: "It took a lot of time--and even more for the pinot noir--but we were able to start with very clear juice." For Boillot, who prefers aromatic, sharply delineated, bracing wines, acid levels and pHs are the most important determinants of when to pick, as they provide "the spinal column" of white Burgundy (the Puligny-Montrachet premier crus have acidity in the very healthy 4.5 grams-per-liter range in 2012). He picked with potential alcohols in the moderate 12.5% range and chaptalized lightly. Boillot told me he was away from Burgundy during the damaging hail storms of 2012, "so I didn't have to get depressed." Still, there will be no Chevalier-Montrachet, Puligny Caillerets or Puligny Folatieres in 2012 due to hail. Incidentally, Boillot has essentially abandoned making Chassagne wines as he says that the appellation is simply not his style. The 2012s had finished their malolactic fermentations and been sulfited one to two months prior to my visit.