Le Grappin · 2022 Beaune Premier Cru ‘Boucherottes’ Rouge

The wine

Boucherottes sits at the southern end of the Beaune Premier Cru slope — where the famous Côte de Beaune red wine country meets the Pommard border. Two contiguous parcels: one a 44-year-old selection massale planting, the other a 26-year-old selection clonale. Below the celebrated Clos des Mouches. Adjacent to Pommard’s grand climat Les Épenots.

The soils here are iron-rich white ground, rocky at the top of the slope transitioning to marl lower down. More limestone than neighbouring Pommard — which gives the wines a fleshy mid-palate with suave, silky tannins rather than the firmer, more extracted character that Pommard typically produces. The Beaune side of the boundary. 13 barrels made.

Winemaker’s note — Andrew Nielsen, Le Grappin

Vineyard: From two contiguous parcels, one a 44-year-old selection massale planting, the other a 26-year-old selection clonale, at the southern end of the Beaune Premier Cru slope below the famous vineyard of Clos des Mouches and next to Pommard’s grand climat Les Épenots. This is an iron-rich white soil, rocky at the top, transitioning to more of a marl at the bottom. Having more limestone than neighbouring Pommard, the wines have a fleshy mid-palate paired with suave, silky tannins.

Vinification: Hand-harvested, chilled overnight to ensure the cluster’s turgidity. 5% was destemmed and placed at the bottom of the wooden vat, the rest of the clusters were put on top for a no SO2, native fermentation. The fruit was untouched, save for a daily sparging with CO2, with one pigèage each of the last two days of fermentation. Pressed on the 14th day, the wine finished to dryness in tank before a year in oak barrels of varying ages and sizes along with the finest of lies. Bottled under DIAM 10 without fining or filtration.

“My vision for Le Grappin is to seek out special sites in the overlooked, under-appreciated reaches of Burgundy, that tell a story. I search out viticulteurs as maniacal as me, who tend their vines throughout the year, who know their sites and how best to make the site shine. My job is to ensure the wine reaches its true potential, working by hand, with small lots, giving each wine as much care and attention as my viticulteurs have paid to the vines.”
— Andrew Nielsen, Le Grappin

Tasting notes

Deep ruby. The nose opens with dark cherry, blackberry, roasted spice, and a distinctive crushed rock mineral quality — the iron-rich soils of the upper slope coming through clearly. The palate is structured and fleshy with the silky tannins that distinguish the limestone-rich Beaune side of this border from the firmer Pommard style immediately adjacent. Good concentration from the 2022 vintage without heaviness. Long, clean, mineral finish. Drink now through 2032.

Service: 16–17°C. Duck breast, roast lamb, mushroom dishes, aged soft cheeses.

2022 vintage note

2022 was a warm, generous vintage across the Côte de Beaune — excellent growing conditions producing wines of exceptional fruit concentration and smooth tannin structure. For a well-sited Premier Cru parcel like Boucherottes, the vintage adds depth and richness that fills the wine’s natural limestone-driven structure. One of the finest recent expressions of what this parcel can produce.