Wine Advocate 88

Aromas of sweet plums, berries and spices introduce Bouley’s 2021 Bourgogne Cote d’Or Rouge, a medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy wine with supple, melting tannins and lively acids. It’s already showing well. Walk through the vineyards of Pommard and Volnay, and Thomas Bouley’s meticulously tended vines are easy to spot. With high canopies that are hedged late, invariably moderate yields and aerated, living soils, they inspire admiration even among the most exacting. His opinions are trenchant, but no one could contend that he doesn’t put them into practice. Yet Bouley remains, to a significant extent, a "winemaker s winemaker" someone sometimes more talked about by his neighbors than by overseas collectors who are more readily seduced by social media savoir faire than hard work in the vineyards. That’s beginning to change, of course, and his terrific portfolio of 2021s is one more reason why. Bouley’s agronomy paid off once again, delivering sufficient natural ripeness to obviate chaptalization, and his increasingly well-adapted barrel choices one-third new across the range completed the picture. The wines have a grace, harmony and charm that make them hard to resist but which will also equip them to age. As readers will remember, the rudiments of Bouley’s approach in the cuverie and cellar are simple. For his terroirs that are richer in clay, he retains significant proportions of stems, whereas stonier sites are largely or entirely destemmed. Macerations are comparatively long, with temperature control only when deemed necessary. In the cellar, the wines see two winters on the fine lees with minimal sulfites before gentle bottling under high-quality natural corks. [William Kelley, 18/01/2024]

Anticipated maturity: 2024-2031