Plum, rhubarb, tobacco, and smoky black tea in the impressive nose of Boillot’s 2008 Volnay Pitures follow on the palate, juicy and enervating, amid toasty and resinous notes from the wine’s 50% new wood (in common with all of this year’s Boillot premier crus) and a faintly gum-numbing tanninity. This has grip no doubt, though arguably not of an entirely felicitous sort, and I suspect that its particular synergy of tannins and acids is not the kind that will resolve itself but should at best be taken as part of one’s vinous medicine over the next 3-4 years. That said, the present performance is multi-faceted and comes up high on the invigoration scale, even if some tasters will conclude that it comes impolitely close to a slap on the face.
Focused on wines of precision and brightness (whether in white or red) Jean-Marc Boillot perpetuated his practice of early harvesting in 2007 with an August 20 start! The natural stylistic proclivity of the 2008 vintage (I did not taste the ‘07 reds here) seems to me to suit his aesthetic to a tee. But was it wise to heighten that in a year of marginal ripeness by harvesting already on September 20? My notes (limited to seven of ten Boillot ‘08 reds that I tasted) answer this question: “probably not.” I can’t believe these would not have been even better for a bit longer on the vine. I don’t doubt Boillot’s assurances, though, that he was scrupulously selective about what he retained to ferment, even with early picking, and it’s clear he was cautious about extraction. In terms of personality, several of these 2008s – all of which were bottled in December – seemed anxious to pass for white. But in writing about them, I confess that a question gnaws at me: Am I simply so spoiled – without being fully conscious of this – by years of increasing ripeness in red Burgundy as to be unfairly impatient with this collection? If, courtesy of time travel, I could revisit the Pommards of the 1980s chez Andre Mussy (whom I revered and a few of whose now old wines I cherish), would I today have the same relatively censorious opinion?
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