Domaine Jean-Marc et Thomas Bouley Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets Vielles Vignes 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Average age of the vine : 15 years old.

Situation : Slope. South/east.

Soil / Underground : Chalky-clay. Rocky lava underground.

Cultivation: Ploughed. No weedkillers or chemical fertilizers used.

Harvest : Manual + Sorting table.

Vinification : Open vats. About 3 weeks.

Ageing : 20 months in oak barrels. 40 % new oak.

About Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley

From father to son through numerous generations, the Bouley family cultivates vineyards in Volnay. In the last century, from 1919, François Bouley manages the family estate. Christian will succeed him in 1948. Jean-Marc creates his own Domain in 1974, to which his father’s vineyards are added in 1984.

In 2002, Thomas joins the Domain and takes the management in 2012. His main objective is to join the great Domains in Volnay and he’s doing all the right things!

Historically both Volnay and neighbouring village Pommard were considered to produce bold, often tannic reds. A signature of their terroir they said.

Yet today we are seeing a softening of the wines, more plush and pliant tannins. This goes to my point that terroir includes the hand of the maker.

Bouley’s wines fit into this mold.

In the Vineyard

Today the Domaine has near 9Ha across 29 plots in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune.

To produce exceptional wines, it is important to have beautiful grapes. To express the mineral from the soil and the underground, a good microbial life is essential.

In this respect, we use neither weedkillers nor chemical fertilizers. All our vines are ploughed.

The manual work of pruning, de-budding and trellising have evolved to keep only 6 to 8 bunches of grapes per plant and evenly spaced.

In the Winery

The harvest is manual. The grapes are then sorted at the winery on a vibrating table. The fermentation takes between 2 and 3 weeks. Diverse decisions are made to adapt to the vintage and to each appellation.

Ageing is done entirely in oak barrels and will take from 15 to 20 months.

The 2020 Vintage at Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley

Bottled after two years’ élevage, Bouley’s 2020s are some of the best wines he has produced to date, rivaling his 2019s and 2015s to rank as the highpoint, though surely not the ultimate zenith, of his already remarkable career.

Why is 2020 such a success? Firstly, Bouley’s agronomy clearly paid off, delivering fully mature fruit without any hint of over-ripeness. Secondly, among the ensemble of details that together make a great wine, an important factor is cooperage; and here, Bouley has made progress, finding a tonnelier capable of making barrels exactly adapted to his requirements. Thirdly, his policy of longer élevage, for all his appellations, was especially well adapted to the 2020 vintage, civilizing wines that, if bottled early, might have remained brutishly primary, but which, after the better part of 24 months’ maturity, are suave, elegant and unfailingly precise.

William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Kelley wrote a great article on Bouley the meticulous, perfectionist vigneron.

Where in the World is Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley?

Jean-Marc & Thomas Bouley are based in the village of Volnay in the Côte du. Beaune with their prize holdings in Volnay and Pommard including a series of Premier Crus.