2014 Volnay Les Fremiets 1er Cru

“The 2014s have riper phenolics than the 2013s,” said Guillaume Boillot about his red wines. “There was some stress in July but the key ripening period was much earlier than in 2013 and that made a difference. The 2013s are silky and charming while the 2014s have more depth and riper tannins; they’re for drinking after the 2013s. Their natural concentration brought riper, darker fruits, thick skins and brown pips. Still, we destemmed 100% because we were concerned about the effects of hail on the skins."

Guillaume does a shorter cold maceration than his father Henri did. While he carries out frequent pigeages early in the fermentation, he stops after several days because he doesn’t like overextraction. “I prefer to show the terroir more clearly,” he told me. Incidentally, he now works with four coopers; his father exclusively used barrels from François Frères for his red wines. I should point out that the fruit the Boillots purchase from four grand cru vineyards on the Côte de Nuits comes from vineyards they take care of during the growing season; in 2014 they harvested all four of these sites on September 20. All of the 2014s had been racked into tanks a month before my early November tasting and they were slated to be bottled in December.