1995 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Chênes Carteaux 1er Cru

The Bouley wines of the mid-'80s were occasionally showy but more often awkward Burgundies whose new oak overshadowed their soil character. But this domain has been totally transformed in the last decade, and especially in the past few years. For starters, Bouley has drastically reduced his reliance on new oak: today he uses his barrels for three vintages. And he has made important investments in new equipment. He bought a destemmer in 1994, and today he destems all of his fruit. Beginning with the '96 vintage, he has full temperature-control capability. And he just purchased a pneumatic press in time for the '97 harvest. Since '95 he has used only wild yeasts to ferment his wines. Bouley points out that the suppler style of '96 is ideal for the normally tougher wines of Pommard. Bouley has significantly expanded this domain since buying the house in 1983 (he has bottled all of his own production since 1986), and offers quite a few appellations for a 12-hectare property. (Represented by Russell Herman, Berkeley Heights, NJ; importers include V.O.S. Selections, Inc., New York, NJ)

I tasted with Bouley father, who emphasized that his son still made wine according to the ancien methode Bouley's cuvaison generally lasts about 12 days, and even the premier crus get no more than 20% new oak. Grape sugars at this 11-hectare domain were in the 10.7%-11.5% range in both '96 and '95. The wines are fined but not filtered.