2021 Aloxe-Corton Village

A rising star in the village of Volnay, Pierrick Bouley greets me at the winery and then repairs to the vat room to taste. As usual, I find him both erudite and insightful regarding the vintage. “We lost only 10% due to the frost because since 2016, we have pruned later, and during the frost in 2021, all of our Premier Crus hadn’t been pruned. So we had nice yields here. Also, our use of cover crops, grass, helps mitigate against frost damage [Bouley shows me an overhead image taken by a drone where it is clear that his parcel in Volnay Champans has much less frost than surrounding rows.] We lost mostly in Bourgogne Rouge and some in Volnay, but only around 15% in the most precocious parcels. The most volume vanished due to oïdium and mildew, so we needed around ten treatments, half of them over the weekend, as that provided the driest conditions. We started picking on 21 September and finished around eight days later. There was just one day when it rained with no disease pressure, all with correct yields. The fermentation was quite fast as the alcohol was not too high; 2022 was more difficult. The wines were racked three weeks ago and will be bottled when we can get the bottles! I think it is a classic Burgundy vintage, unlike 2018 or 2022. I learned a lot in the 2021 vintage, just as I did in 2016.” This is a classy set of wines, crowned by a sublime, elegant Volnay Champans and two very impressive cuvées from Monthélie.