Jean-Baptiste Boudier – Verity Wines

2015 is Jean-Baptiste Boudier’s very first vintage, with production totaling a modest 3 hectares – one hectare of Pernand Vergelesses Blanc, another hectare of Pernand Vergelesses Rouge 1er Cru Les Fichots, and the last hectare a mix of Bourgogne Rouge, Aloxe Corton and Pernand Vergelesses Blanc 1er Cru Sous Frétille. These vineyards come from his family’s larger 7-hectare domaine. It was during the 2014 harvest, when Jean-Baptiste worked alongside his father for vinification, that their different visions of wine became apparent and they mutually decided that Jean-Baptiste deserved a chance to experiment on his own.

Though only 26 years old, Jean-Baptiste is no novice, having already racked up an impressive list of internship experiences across France and beyond. His diplomas in viticulture and enology include a BTS at the Lycée Viticole in Beaune, a License Science de la Vigne in Dijon, and a Diplome Nationale en Oenologie in Bordeaux. His first apprenticeship was with his second cousin, Nicolas Rossignol in the Côte de Beaune, followed by stints in Saint Emilion, New Zealand (Georges Michel), Chateauneuf du Pape (Vieux Télégraphe), Gevrey-Chambertin (Marchand Frères), Roussillon (Domaine Gauby), and Pessac (Haut Brion). To describe him as smart, focused and ambitious would clearly be an understatement.

Jean-Baptiste does not label himself organic, but emphasizes that he works with a great respect for the environment (“like all growers of my generation do…or should!”). He mostly works his vines and soils on his own with serious care and attentiveness, aided only in the spring/summer by a few seasonal workers.

With the largest production cuvée totaling a humble 5 barrels, attention to detail is key here. For the reds, Jean-Baptiste mostly de-stems for now, though he is intrigued by initial experiments with whole cluster fermentation on the Bourgogne Rouge 2015. Vinification is light-handed and straight forward – in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts, very gentle extraction (none or one punch-down per day), and very low added sulfur (5g/hl). He prefers a short 4 to 5-day post-fermentation to pre-fermentation maceration for a more harmonious phenolic integration. For the whites, whole bunches are slowly and gently pressed. The must is lightly decanted, and alcoholic fermentation starts in tank but finishes in barrel. Sulfur additions are even lower for the whites (2g/hl).