CÔTE-DE-NUITS-VILLAGES > BOUCHARD Ainé & Fils

CÔTE-DE-NUITS-VILLAGES 2020

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2023

Varietal

100% Pinot Noir.

Tasting notes

Colour: Dark ruby.

Nose: Red and black fruit, liquorice and vegetal aromas (undergrowth, mushroom).

Palate: Complex, this is a supple, fairly full-bodied wine. Ripe fruit and gamey aromas develop with age.

Food and wine pairing

This wine will be a great companion to eggs or red meat with a Bourgogne Pinot Noir sauce, grilled lamb cutlets, donkey sausage, beef roast, poultry gizzards in salad or a good camembert cheese.

Serving suggestions

Serve at a temperature of 15-16°C (60°F).

Ageing potential

This wine can be enjoyed now, but can be kept for 5 to 10 years.

Origins

This village appellation is divided into two parts: one to the north, in the communes of Fixin and Brochon; the other, further south, in the villages of Premeaux-Prissey, Comblanchien and Corgoloin. Corgoloin thus marks the border between the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune vineyards.

It covers 165 hectares, with only 10 hectares planted with white grapes.

The slopes of Comblanchien and Corgoloin are cut into the hard limestone of the Upper Bathonian. They do not rest on the edge of the plateau but follow a regular, gentle slope. At the top are brown soils with little limestone. Thick scree forms the slope. At the base of the hillside, brown soils cover the accumulated silts. Fixin and Brochon, on the other hand, lie on the brown-red soil of the foothills: silt that has come down from the slopes and is mixed with limestone pebbles.

Vinification and maturing

The grapes are collected in small ventilated crates, then painstakingly sorted at a table. Next, the grapes are entirely destemmed but not crushed (they remain whole) and transferred by gravity into a wooden vat. Maceration lasts around 3 weeks, with more-or-less frequent cap punching. The wine is aged for 12 months in oak barrels (20% new oak). Lastly, the wine is bottled with very light filtration.

Vintage : 2020

The current public health crisis has certainly marked this year’s harvest, which nonetheless has been able to go ahead! Despite the year’s record temperatures and lack of rainfall, there is been no lack of quality, although yields are down, with an especially mixed picture with regard to reds. However, these have generally been very well-balanced. Overall, we have seen nice levels of acidity, promising good aging potential…

All over Burgundy, 2020 was notable for its mildness and low rainfall. After a winter with no serious frosts, we went straight into a spring dominated by sunny, dry weather, resulting in very early bud break. Infrequent outbreaks of rain in June and July were not enough to stave off water shortages. Very high summer temperatures combined with intense sun exposure levels led to the vines gradually falling prey to hydric stress, causing delays to fruit ripening before harvest-time.

Once again, the vegetative cycle was shortened, being almost three weeks ahead of 2019’s. Thankfully, the harvest was saved by the relative cool of the nights. The harvest was of marvellous quality but there was very little juice in the red grapes (reduction of 30 to 50%), and reasonable potential alcohol, despite the heat. The whites, on the other hand, coped very well with these extreme conditions and yields were very good.

Relatively poor yields for the reds, normal yields for the whites. Some appellations achieved excellent levels of optimal ripeness, with 50% of grapes harvested with the ‘vendange entière’ (no destemming) approach.

Harvest started on the 21^stAugust for the Côte Chalonnaise, more specifically, the Givry reds and then on the 23^rd of August the first Chardonnay grapes were handpicked in the shape of the Beaune 1^er cru Les Marconnets.

Winemaker Laurent Mairet first tasting impressions of the 2020 vintage:

‘A very promising year for the whites with a fine balance between acidity and alcohol and intense white fruit aromas. Alcoholic fermentation in barrels lasted four weeks. Millerandage affected the reds leading to less juice but nice colour and distinct red berry aromas. With its generous tannins, this year looks set to be one to cellar.

However, there are some small variations from terroir to terroir. Côte Chalonnaise reds are characterized by jammy notes while the Côte Beaune have good aromatic intensity and nice colour. The Côte de Nuits is giving us some lovely cuvées just now with summer fruit notes and wonderfully velvety tannins.’