2006 Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (1/18/2014)
Terrific stuff, with great balance of fruit and earthy complexity. Just entering its drinking window, this has tannin showing on the finish but is approachable. The fruit befits an above average Beaune 1er cru. 92, pushing 93, and this has improvement in its future. Snap up this underrated bottling while those too “cool” for Bouchard miss out. (92 pts.)
Always an excellent bottle, this one, until quite recently very reasonably priced for what is almost a GC quality site. There were some concerns about Volnays in 2006 but judging by what I’ve tasted there’s nothing to worry about.
That’s funny, I did not know about JG’s score. But when I called this underrated I was basically referencing that viewpoint that I know some hold of Bouchard. To answer Frank’s question, I did not feel that the wood was especially noticeable at this point, though I am not particularly oak-phobic. Tom, I agree with you - this is the first bottle of Cuvée Carnot that I’ve opened and frankly it was higher quality material than I expected.
I’m happy to have someone out there calling this as a 69; more for those of us who enjoy this wine. I haven’t seen JG’s note so I don’t know what he was reacting to, but I’m happy to put my assessment up against his - based on how this bottle showed I am confident that my take will only grow more right each day for a number of years as the oak further integrates, for the palates of most Burg drinkers with no axe to grind anyway.
Could’ve been something as simple as oak integration. Noticed a much better score for the 2010. Also hear rumbles of Bouchard’s improved quality of late.
If that score was based on an extreme judgment about the oak treatment, I’d have to say I think that’s a pretty big miss for a pro critic. I’ve generally heard that Bouchard quality improved post-2000 but my experience with Bouchard doesn’t quite go back that far but the wines have been pretty good from 2005 and on.
The JG score is simply ridiculous there is nothing more to say about that! I found the wine really interesting with high-toned fruit and great structure when tasted in march 13 and I think it will be really exiting in about 5 years’ time! Regarding the improvement of Bouchard the turning point imo was the 05 vintage as Alan also notes where the wines (with some selection within the vintages) are really great and the quality just seems to be going up and up so will be exiting to follow further on
I have the highest regard for John Gilman and undoubtedly his sampling of the wine took place when it was showing in an unsatisfactory way. This is the problem with assessing burgundy-what you see is not at all what you get, and a bad showing at one stage often has little significance for its future. It may be felt that experienced tasters can divine the future but this is by no means always the case.
Bouchard were certainly already making grand wines by 98(as well, of course, as an absolutely stunning pre 1970s history) and it may be that by 05-06 the foot was too firmly down on the accelerator.
My palate aligns with Gilman almost perfectly and I will buy European white wines blind based on his reviews, but I find his reviews and scores on red wines almost comically irrelevant and unreliable.