We started the day in Puligny Montrachet at Olivier Leflaive, where we enjoyed an extensive vineyard walk and cellar tour. We then had a wine tasting lunch at Olivier Leflaive. In the early afternoon, we drove over to Santenay for a tasting in the cellar of Domaine Mestre Père et Fils. We ended the day in Beaune at Bouchard Père et Fils with a tour and wine tasting (before having dinner in Beaune).
Our host at Bouchard Père et Fils was Mathilde Pepay-Cazenave.
For the past couple of years in January, Panos Kakaviatos from Wine-Chronicles and Decanter organized Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils in Washington DC. We were able to participate in the vintages 2010 and 2012 tastings. Thanks Panos and Henriot.
See:
Vintage 2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Tasting at Ripple in Washington DC, USA – With Tasting Notes by Annette Schiller
Tasting Vintage 2010 Bouchard Père et Fils Wines with Panos Kakaviatos in Washington DC, USA
Bouchard Père et Fils
Bouchard Père et Fils is a large wine grower and négociant, based in Beaune, in the Côte de Beaune. Bouchard Père et Fils was established as a cloth merchant by Michel Bouchard in Volnay in 1731.
Starting in 1746, his son Joseph Bouchard began selling wines and acquiring vineyards. Over several generations, Bouchard Père et Fils has assembled one of the finest portfolios in Bourgogne of 130 hectares of vineyard in the heart of the Côte d’Or – 12 of them classified as Grand Cru and 74 as Premier Cru, including: Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Corton, Corton-Charlemagne, Clos Vougeot, Chambertin, Beaune Grèves Vigne de l'Enfant Jésus, Volnay Caillerets, Meursault Perrières. Particularly noteworthy are high proportions of the two Grands Crus Le Montrachet (1.1 ha) and Chevalier-Montrachet (2.3 ha). Bouchard Père et Fils is since 1820 installed at Château de Beaune in the heart of Beaune (Monument Historique), with a vast cellar. In 1995, the Bouchard family sold Bouchard Père et Fils to Joseph Henriot in the Champagne.
Henriot
The Henriot Family has been in Champagne since the 16th Century. In 1808, Apolline Henriot, one of the many famous widows of the Champagne region, decided to sell their wines under the Champagne Henriot label, hitherto only reserved for family and friends. Today, Henriot Champagne can be found around the world.
When Etienne Henriot died in 1957, his son, Joseph Henriot, also a trained agronomist, gradually took over the reins of the family company from 1962. Joseph Henriot, a successful businessman, also became President of Charles Heidsieck, then Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. In 1995, Joseph Henriot bought Bouchard Père et Fils.
Since 1999, Stanislas Henriot, son of Joseph Henriot, gradually took over the management of the House and was President from 2004 to 2010. He was responsible for turning Henriot Champagne from a relatively unknown Champagne House outside of France to a global player. Notably, he set up a subsidiary in the US that imports and sells, inter alia, Henriot Champagne and Bouchard Père et Fils wines.
Château de Beaune
In 1820 Bernard Bouchard purchased the Château de Beaune, a former royal fortress built in the 15th century by King Louis XI. Four of the five original towers of the fortress, as well as parts of the ramparts, still stand today, and have featured on the list of historic monuments since 1937.
The cellars run deep underground beneath the property providing ideal natural storage conditions for Bouchard Père & Fils’ fine wines. Up to 10 metres deep, the wines develop and age undisturbed. These include a unique collection of over 2,000 bottles from the 19th century. A priceless historical legacy with, as its icon, the oldest wine – a Meursault Charmes 1846 which still retains its luster.
Winemaking
Mathilde Pepay-Cazenave: Over time, by acquiring various terroirs with great care and patience, Bouchard Père & Fils has built up the biggest domaine in the Côte d’Or. Today the estate boasts 130 hectares of vines, of which 12 are classed Grand Cru and 74 classed as Premier Cru.
The estate’s configuration, extending as it does over 48 km from north to south with a mosaic of 450 different vineyards, protects Bouchard Père & Fils from localised weather events such as hail, storms or frost. However, this does entail having to have teams on the ground throughout the vineyards.
The multitude of vineyard parcels receives special care and attention all year round. Every Bouchard Père & Fils vineyard has been managed using sustainable viticulture for many years in order to bring out the authenticity and full potential of the wines. Bouchard Père & Fils’ constant attention to detail also continues at harvest time when the grapes are harvested by hand, placed in small crates, and then carefully selected on sorting tables.
Bouchard Père & Fils applies the “precision of a goldsmith” to each stage of winemaking. In this pursuit of precision, Bouchard Père & Fils invested in a high-tech facility in 2005, the St. Vincent winery in Savigny-les-Beaune.
Located 5 metres below ground level, the vinification vat room enables grapes to be transferred naturally, by gravity, into 138 maceration tanks or presses. Over 100 different wines are vinified here. They are then matured in oak in a cellar with a 4,000 barrel capacity.
This maturation period allows the purity of the aromas and the organoleptic profile of each terroir to express themselves to the full. Dug 10 metres below ground, with no covering other than the earth itself, the barrel cellar provides ideal, natural conditions of ventilation and humidity for the wines to complete their long maturation process.
After bottling, the ageing period commences. The Château’s cellars, also nearly 10 metres below ground, offer perfect conditions for ageing Bouchard Père & Fils’ wines.
Depending on the vineyard parcel and the appellation, the estate’s wines can be matured for over a year in oak barrel. Thanks to the natural hygrometry and constant temperature, the Grand Crus, from a young age, benefit from an environment which is perfect for long periods of undisturbed ageing, and they can remain for several hundred years after bottling in the protective silence of the cellars which date back to the 15th Century.
Tasting
Crus Blancs
Meursault 2012 Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils
Beaune Clos Saint-Landry Premier Cru 2011 Monopole Bouchard Père & Fils
Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot Premier Cru 2010 Bouchard Père & Fils
Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2011 Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils
Crus Rouges
Pommard 2011 Bouchard Père & Fils
Volnay Caillerets Ancienne Cuvee Carnot Premier Cru 2011 Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils
Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Cailles Premier Cru 2011 Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils
Beaune Greves Vigne de l’Entfant Jesus Premier Cru 2012 Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils
Bye-bye
After the tasting some of us bought Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils.
Postings on the Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France (Posted and Forthcoming)
Preview: Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015 and 2016)
Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France
Champagne Jean Josselin in Gyé-sur-Seine: Tour and Tasting with Jean Pierre Josselin - Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
The Wines of Tonnerre, France – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Domaine Séguinot-Bordet in Maligny, Chablis: Tour and Tasting with Owner and Winemaker Jean-François Bordet – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Domaine Brocard in Chablis: Lunch, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Odile Van Der Moere, Responsable de Cave – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Dinner at Hostellerie Chateau de la Barge in Creches-sur-Saone - Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Domaine Ferret in Fuissé, Poully-Fuissé, Mâconnais: Vineyard Walk, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Cyril Laumain, Chef de Cave – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Visit of the Abbey of Cluny and Lunch at Hostellerie d'Heloise in Cluny – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Domaine Theulot Juillot in Mercurey, Côte Chalonnaise: Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Nathalie and Jean-Claude Theulot – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France
Olivier Leflaive: Vineyard Walk and Cellar Tour, with Patrick Leflaive – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France
Lunch and Winetasting at La Table de Olivier in Pouligny Montrachet – Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France
Wine Tasting at Domaine Mestre Père & Fils in Santenay with Jonathan Mestre - Bourgogne Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015), France
Visit: Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils in Beaune
Schiller's Favorite Wine Bars in Beaune, Bourgogne
Visit: Musée de l’Hospice de Beaune with Karoline Knoth, M.A.
Domaine A-F Gros in Beaune: Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Owner and Winemaker Mathias Parent
Visit: Maison Joseph Drouhin in Beaune
Domaine Faiveley in Nuits-Saint-George: Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Mathilde Nicolas (Brand Ambassador)
Wine Tasting at Domaine du Château de Prémeaux in Nuits Saint Georges with Owner and Winemaker Arnaud Pelletier
Domaine Armelle et Bernard Rion in Vosne-Romanée: Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Bernard Rion and Alice Rion
Domaine Guillon & Fils in Gevrey Chambertin: Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with Jean-Michel Guillon
Visit: Château du Clos de Vougeot
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