Auxey-Duresses 2018 – Jean-Claude Boisset

To produce the Auxey-Duresses Jean-Claude Boisset, the hand-picked grapes were sorted first in the vineyard and again at the winery. Whole bunches of grapes were gently pressed for two and a half hours. The temperature of the must was lowered to 12°C and then immediately transferred to barrels of 450 and 350 litres, with no settling to preserve a maximum of lees. Fermentation was long, lasting around 10 months, using indigenous yeasts for added complexity and freshness. Following fermentation, the wine was aged for 14 months in French oak barrels (of which 35% was new) with no racking or stirring in order to preserve the distinct minerality of this site. Nestled between the two famed villages of Volnay and Meursault, Auxey-Duresses has only 150 hectares of vines. Today, it producers some of the Côte’s best value for money wines. The fruit for Auxey-Duresses comes from a 0.31-hectare plot located in the extension of the Meursault appellation, where the soils are mostly limestone and the vines face northeast. The balance between warm and cool influences results in a long, slow ripening period, allowing the grapes to retain their acidity and lending excellent balance to the finished wines. Jean-Claude Boisset is a family-owned wine company founded in 1961. Jean-Claude’s first parcel of land was located in Gevrey-Chambertin and today the company is based in Les Ursulines, a former convent in Nuits-Saint-Georges, and run by his children Jean-Charles and Nathalie. In 2018, they opened a new state-of-the-art winery, which reflects their modern, technical approach to winemaking. In 2002, Jean-Charles recruited Grégory Patriat, who had previously worked at the legendary Vosne-Romanée producer Domaine Leroy, to revitalise and reinvent the house. He transformed Boisset into a ‘viniculteur’, working closely with the growers, guiding the wines from vine to bottle to achieve the desired quality. In order to create concentrated, beautifully well-rounded wines which are naturally expressive of their individual appellation, Grégory practises minimal intervention winemaking. Each plot is picked separately and hand sorted to ensure optimal maturity. Sulphite levels are low and the wines are fermented exclusively by natural yeasts, with rarely more than 30% new oak used on a wine.