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2012 Beaune 1er Cru Les Reversées
Domaine Jean-Marc et Thomas Bouley
£51.20 per Bottle
£307.22 per Case
£40.00 per Bottle
£240.00 per Case
Bottle - 75cl
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When Thomas Bouley joined his father Jean-Marc at the age of twenty in 2002, he vowed to make the domaine one of the finest in Volnay. Since taking over in 2012, he has more than achieved his goal, and is spoken of in the same terms as Frédéric Lafarge. His knowledge and enthusiasm are breathtaking.
Thomas is entirely focussed on making the best wine possible, and this means constant work in the vineyards: you get the impression he knows the foibles of each individual vine on his nine hectares, and he can certainly tell you the exact soil composition and microclimate of each of his 29 plots. Intervention is kept to a minimum, and he believes in encouraging the vines’ natural vigour: no fertiliser is used, no systemic treatments, no green harvesting, and hedging as late as possible after flowering. This gives him a greater number of smaller bunches, with a better skin-to-juice ratio. In 2020 he announced that after 20 years of work his vines had reached equilibrium: young vines did not overproduce, older vines had been rejuvenated. Since 2016 he has changed the height of his canopy, allowing the shoots to grow higher and freer, and this has improved the energy levels of his wines. He has relaxed visibly, and now exudes the quiet confidence of a man at the top of his game.
Thomas has some of the choicer vineyards in Volnay and Pommard: Clos des Chênes, Caillerets, Carelles, Fremiers and Rugiens, as well as a 1er cru in Beaune. His wines are expressive, pure and full of energy.
The heat and drought of 2020 made it the most extreme vintage Thomas has experienced. Fortunately, he and his vineyards were prepared. ‘If we’d had this sort of weather in 2016, the vines would not have been able to cope, but after four warm vintages they have begun to adapt, and can still function,’ he said. Drought began to take its toll from August, but Volnay was lucky to get a little rain just before the harvest, which refreshed the vines, and his healthy soils were able to transmit the water to the vines quickly. The grape skins and juice had tense and bitter flavours, but the water relaxed them, and they gave their best when they were picked – in short, it provided the balance that Thomas needed to make great wines.
In his new cuverie, Thomas was able to set the fermentation temperature precisely, a far cry from the days when he was obliged to use concrete vats where he could have little control. In the past, intracellular fermentation, also known as carbonic maceration, was only possible by leaving whole bunches intact in the vat. More sophisticated destemmers can now pluck the berries from the stems without damaging them, and so this additional form of fermentation can be used without some of the disadvantages that stems in the tanks can bring. The musts and wine were handled very gently, with almost no punching down. It is a fantastic vintage.
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Domaine Jean-Marc et Thomas Bouley
£51.20 per Bottle
£307.22 per Case
£40.00 per Bottle
£240.00 per Case
Bottle - 75cl
+ Add item