Les Evocelles

Made using tiny berries, this is Louis’ most concentrated wine in 2014. A rich, magisterial purple, with plump, ripe, dark fruit, this is extremely pure. Despite the concentration, the wine remains very fresh and crunchy behind: ripe, vivacious and impressive.

The good thing about having a domaine shared between Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits is that you are unlikely to sustain hail damage in every vineyard in any given vintage. The bad thing is that your Côte de Beaune vineyards will have suffered three years in a row. So this year we concentrate on Gevrey-Chambertin, where Louis’s results are excellent in 2014.

Les Evocelles has an attractive, medium range purple fruit and quite perfumed nose. Very juicy, with a lovely limestone lift at the back from this hillside site, this is very stylish.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Louis Boillot seemed remarkably cheerful for a man who has made so little wine this year, the poor flowering taking as much toll as the hail. Most cuvées have slightly more new wood in 2012 because of the shortage of wine, but the concentration of the fruit is easily able to absorb this.

This hillside vineyard has produced a lighter coloured wine with lovely perfume and intricate detail in this Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles from Louis Boillot. There are little red fruits throughout, which are not weighty, but silky and stylish.

With beautiful aromatics, medium density and much more about finesse than power, this Gevrey-Chambertin is lacy and distinguished. It is a really graceful wine for drinking over the medium term.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Pierre Vincent’s reputation has been blossoming over the last few vintages, as critic’s rate his wines increasingly highly and repeated success at the International Wine Challenge has been rewarded with the Len Evans Trophy for consistency over 5 years. Pierre is looking to major on delicacy while building persistence, to which end the new oak component is being reduced and the whole bunch fermentation percentage increased. The Vougeraie 2011s were picked over 12 days, beginning on the 31st August.

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Burgundy 2012 En Primeur - Staff Favourite
Planted at 36000 vines per hectare Les Evocelles must be among the highest density plantings in France. As a result the vines compete for water and nutrients producing small, highly flavoured berries. The wine shows ripe berries with rich cherry notes, finesse of a fine tannic structure and a finish that continues for a very long time. The 100% whole clusters are easily blended with the ripeness of fruit.

This superb domaine grows in reputation and also in size: this year sees the first vintage of Nuits-St Georges, Clos de Thorey. Look out for even further additions in the next two years. Winemaker Pierre Vincent’s style is for lighter colours and very sensual wines and he has done a cracking job again in 2012; a vintage which supported the plentiful use of whole bunch fermentation. The domaine is certified organic and fully biodynamic.

The vines here are 60 years old. Evocelles lies in the neighbouring commune of Brochon where there is more limestone. The vineyard is also quite high, producing a leaner, perhaps more ascetic style, but there is no denying the power. The tannins are finely ripe and sculpted. Drink 2021-2030. Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Louis Boillot came to Chambolle-Musigny, where his partner Ghislaine Barthod is based, from Gevrey-Chambertin, though as his full range of wines indicates, he is descended from the Volnay family of Boillots. He was formerly associated with his brother and father at Domaine Lucien Boillot, but set up on his own from the 2003 vintage. In 2013, Louis supplemented his holdings in the Côte d’Or with the purchase of just over four hectares of well-sited old vines in the north of Moulin-à-Vent (the fruit of which you’ll find on pages 54 and 55). Louis and Ghislaine have recently been joined by their son Clément. Given that Louis thought that his 2015s were among the best wines he has ever made, it is quite a step up for him to say that, categorically, this is his best-ever vintage. It is an assertion that’s hard to refute. His eschewing of current trends in winemaking (no whole-bunch here) and a modest, reflective stance has allowed him to get the best out of his extraordinary array of vineyards and old vines. There are wonderful expressions of each vineyard this year.

After displaying a lacy, stylish bouquet of charming fruit, the palate of this Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles from la Vougeraie is surprisingly dense before a fine and long, deliciously fresh finish.