Domaine Louis Boillot Fixin, Cote de Nuits, France

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Aromas of sweet red berries, spices and forest floor introduce the 2017 Fixin Village, a medium-bodied, firm and tensile wine with a bright line of acidity and chalky structuring tannins. It's one of the leaner, more linear wines in the cellar.

The 2016 Fixin Village comes from a single parcel of 60-year-old vines the other side of the wall from Clos du Chapitre. It has a fragrant, candied bouquet with orange zest and apricot scents permeating the red berry fruit. Like the C?tes de Nuits Villages, this is generous. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rustic tannin, but there is fine density and fruité here with a long, lightly spiced, sinewy finish. Not bad, though I think the 2015 will have more potential.

The 2015 Fixin Village, which had the highest degree of alcohol from the domaine at 13.8°, has a slightly earthy nose, sultry when tasted from barrel, with raspberry preserve and subtle iodine scents, almost like a Marsannay. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy blackberry and blackcurrant notes, sprinkled with black pepper and a touch of graphite towards the edgy finish. I appreciate the energy conveyed here, although the edges need to be smoothed down.

From a single parcel of 60-year old vines, the 2012 Fixin Village has a light, tertiary bouquet that feels a little subdued compared to other crus. The palate is better with a pretty cassis and boysenberry jam infused entry, interlaced with a touch of spice and iodine, the finish conservative and just a touch abrupt at the moment. Having tasted with his wife Ghislaine Barthod in the morning, I returned to the same address in the afternoon to see Louis Boillot. The domaine was established in 2002 when his father split the family domaine, Louis Boillot & Fils, between Louis and his brother Pierre. Henri Boillot is their cousin. It is an interesting set up: half the cellar reserved for Ghislaine’s wines and the other for her husband’s and whilst I have a great deal of experience with the former, I was less acquainted with Boillot’s. However I am glad that I did the time to sample through an impressive portfolio that were generally balanced, refined and skilfully expressed their terroir. In common with so many other producers, the affects of poor flowering, coulure and millerandage reduced yields. His Volnay Caillerets was reduced down to just half a barrel and in the case of his Pommard Village, down to a negligible three crates of grapes that were blended into the Bourgogne Rouge. Louis also rued the fact that the decreased total number of barrels meant that the ratio of new oak is a little higher than he might have liked, and therefore after vinifying in new oak he often transferred his wines into used oak after malo-lactic fermentations. Generally, this strategy worked and most of his 2012 did not exhibit excessive levels of wood. I would zone in on Louis’s exquisite Volnay wines that seemed to put the traumas of the growing season behind them, whilst the Nuits Saint Georges is exemplary. Importer: Sussex Wine and Rare Wine Company (CA) and several importers in the UK including Lay & Wheeler, Raeburn Fine Wine, Averys and Berry Brothers.

The 2009 Fixin offers up sweet scents of pipe tobacco, herbs, licorice and red cherries, all of which are buffered by a lively vein of minerality. The finish shows excellent drive and verve. Tasted from barrel. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2022. Louis Boillot remarked that he and his wife Ghislaine Barthod were the first to harvest in 2009, but the last in 2008. In 2009 Boillot was concerned with losing the singular expression of site, hence his decision to pick on the early side. The 2009s were made from 100% destemmed fruit, as is the custom here. New oak reached a maximum of 25-30%. Boillot is among the growers who prefers the 2008s to the 2009s, which he describes as more faithful and transparent to site. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990