2020 Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc, Jean-Baptiste Boudier

Jean-Baptiste Boudier’s training took him from Beaune’s viticultural school to New Zealand and Roussillon, with 2 years studying oenology in Bordeaux, including 6 months at Château Haut-Brion. It was during the 2014 harvest that he worked for the first time alongside his father at the family`s Pernand-Vergelesses Domaine. Their different visions of wine soon became apparent and they mutually decided that Jean-Baptiste deserved a chance to experiment on his own.

2015 was Jean-Baptiste`s very first solo vintage, with production of just 3 hectares of vines spread across plots in Pernand-Vergelesses, Savigny-Lès-Beaune and Aloxe-Corton. He is a smart, focused, ambitious winemaker who does not believe in pre-fermentation maceration. “I prefer that fermentations start fast,” he says. “For my father, colour was very important, but for me, it’s not the major factor. Tannins are more important, and we adapt the extractions according to the year, and by tasting.” In his avoidance of a pre-fermentation cold soaking of his grapes, his wine-making is not Burgundian mainstream, but has been carefully thought through, from his own experiences.