2022 Chambolle-Musigny Les Sentiers 1er Cru

Winemaker Clément Boillot is now in charge of both his father’s, Louis Boillot, and mother’s, Ghislaine Barthod’s cuvées. That comes to some 30 different wines stretched across much of the Côte d’Or, excluding their expanding roster of Beaujolais wines. I found him in a chatty mood, and after a quick discussion about the Rugby World Cup and his efforts to replace old vines that suffer degeneration (they have half a hectare planted with the susceptible 161-49 rootstock), we broached the intake of 2022.

“We just had a bit of stress in Volnay Caillerets,” he explains as he arranges all the miniature sample bottles (previously, they were taken directly from barrel, but I prefer this more time-efficient way). In Volnay, on poor, rocky soils, the vines suffered some blockage, as we had in 2023. For the first time, we decided to rack earlier with the lower acidity levels. I will keep the same duration of aging but the first 12 months in barrel and 7 to 9 months in stainless steel vats. It also means we have fresh barrels for the new vintage. We have also introduced larger vessels: five-hectoliter barrels and foudres for the larger cuvées. We started the harvest on August 25, maybe a couple of days earlier in Beaujolais, starting around August 28 or 29 in Chambolle-Musigny. We finished September 12. The yield is 40hL/ha, but the figures are irregular between parcels. We have a smaller picker team, but picking over a longer period of time. Because of the hail at the end of June, the yields are smaller in Gevrey. Everything is de-stemmed. The 2022s were racked one or two weeks ago. All the cuvées were chaptalized by around half a degree. Average alcohol degrees were 12-12.5, and we added just under half a degree.”

Perhaps the headline from this tasting is a noticeable amelioration in the quality of those cuvées on the Louis Boillot side. Without wishing to disparage his father, there has been a little inconsistency that was perhaps exaggerated by the caliber of Ghislaine Barthod. However, in 2022, I feel that Clément Boillot’s influence is tangible with some superb cuvées: Fixin Les Herbues, Nuits Saint-Georges Les Pruliers and Pommard Les Croix Noires, to name but three. The Volnay Cailleret felt enervated by successive hail-affected seasons that must leave its vines wondering what they did to deserve this. Under Ghislaine Barthod, as expected, it is a superb set of very consistent wines, though my top score was a bit of a surprise… Not Les Fuées or Les Charmes, as good as they are, but easily the best Chambolle Les Véroilles—it is blessed with lace-like tannins and a purity of fruit unequalled across their strong range.