2020 Bouchard, Last Call!
Bouchard is one of those historic Burgundy Estates that has stood the test of time and seems to be on a continual rising trajectory of fame. If not from my emails droning on about it, surely you know by now that Domaine Bouchard has been acquired by one of France’s wealthiest individuals, luxury apparel titan François Pinault's Artémis Domaines. Chateau Latour, Clos Tart and the Araujo Estate are some of the prior wine acquisitions. It looks to be an interesting run at competing with LVMH’s (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) style of world domination in luxury goods and wine.
Domaine Fevre in Chablis has already been quietly sold off to the Rothschilds, and it is my understanding a number of Bouchard’s lesser vineyards are currently in the process of being sold.
On some reliable sources, the plan is to keep the very best of the holdings and create an ultra premium range of wines. What that exactly means is still up for interpretation but rest assured, if Clos de Tart can be used as an example, prices will most definitely be on an upward trajectory .
I’ve probably visited Bouchard more than any other Burgundy Domaine. I can’t tell you how many old bottles of Bouchard I’ve tasted over the years that stand toe to toe with the best Burgundy has to offer - in both colors! One thing I’ve learned from those countless visits, is that among the 50 or so wines in their portfolio, there are a select few that they hold most dear. They are the wines they show at their tastings and therefore, the wines I most often offer. You will find these listed below. Year in and year out, they always deliver.
These represent the last remaining stock I have available of the 2020 vintage - all at the original prices! In a year from now, you are going to look back on these prices and wish you would have bought more!
When they go, they are gone forever! Incredible vintage at prices you will never see again.
2020 Bouchard Meursault 1er Cru Genevrières Cru
The 2020 Meursault 1er Cru Genevrières wafts from the glass with aromas of citrus oil, crisp Anjou pear, hazelnuts, white flowers and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, with an ample core of fruit, terrific concentration, bright acids and a long, saline finish.
- William Kelley, 92-94
2020 Bouchard Puligny Montrachet 1er Chaulmux
This was a wine that was not reviewed and probably the reason it is still in stock. Popped one of these a couple of weeks ago - amazing purity, freshness and minerality on a finish that went on well after you swallowed. This is a Puligny that hits well above its price point and an absolute steal when you consider a Puligny of this quality could easily set you back twice the price! “
- VinsRare, 93
2020 Bouchard Nuits St Georges 1er Les Cailles
The 2020 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles wafts from the glass with aromas of ripe berries, raw cocoa, licorice, rose petals and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, this Pinot Noir has a deep core of fruit, lively acids, powdery tannins and a long, saline finish.
- William Kelley, 91-93+
Cropped at a derisory 15 hectoliters per hectare, the quality of Bouchard's 2020 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot is some compensation for the lack of quantity. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berries, rose petals, plums, raw cocoa and orange rind, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and velvety, with powdery tannins, lively acids and a long, fragrant finish.
- William Kelley, 92-94+
Very ripe liqueur-like aromas of various black berries are nuanced by plenty of spice and floral elements. There is excellent underlying tension to the beautifully textured medium weight flavors that also brim with sappy dry extract and minerality, all wrapped in a bitter pit fruit finale that offers impressive persistence. This is definitely atypical but the intrinsic class of a fine Caillerets is still present.
- Burghound, 91-93
2020 Bouhard Chevalier Montrachet
The 2020 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru opens in the glass with notes of citrus oil, musky peach, tangerine, nutmeg and buttered popcorn. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, it's chiseled and penetrating, with a tightly wound core of fruit and a racy spine of acidity. As readers will remember, this bottling hails from the three terraces on the hillside above Bouchard's La Cabotte, their bottling from the latter—which abuts Montrachet itself—being more muscular and powerful, whereas this cuvée is finer-boned and more ethereal.
- William Kelley, 93-95+
