| Region of production: | Côte d’Or |
| Winery Location: | Beaune |
| Year Established: | 1731 |
Vineyard Holdings
130 ha
- Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru: 2.54 ha Chardonnay
- Montrachet Grand Cru: 0.89 ha Chardonnay
- Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru: 3.25 ha Chardonnay
- Corton Grand Cru: 3.67 ha Pinot Noir
- Meursault Genevrières Premier Cru: 2.65 ha Chardonnay
- Beaune Clos Saint-Landry Premier Cru: 1.98 ha Chardonnay (monopole)
- Beaune Clos de la Mousse Premier Cru: 3.36 ha Pinot Noir (monopole)
- Beaune Grèves Premier Cru: 4.0 ha Pinot Noir
- Volnay Caillerets Premier Cru: 4.0 ha Pinot Noir
Top Wines Produced
- Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru
- Chevalier-Montrachet “La Cabotte” Grand Cru: from the small lieu-dit of the same name
- Beaune Clos Saint-Landry Premier Cru (white)
- Beaune Grèves “Vigne de l’Enfant Jesus” Premier Cru (red)
- Beaune Clos de la Mousse Premier Cru (red)
- Beaune “Beaune du Château” Premier Cru (white and red): blended from multiple premier crus
- Volnay Caillerets “Ancienne Cuvée Carnot” Premier Cru
Average Total Production
- 3,000,000 bottles
Summary
Bouchard Père et Fils is a historic name in Burgundy, tracing its history back to Michel Bouchard’s first purchase of vines in 1731. In 1775, Joseph Bouchard purchased vines in the Caillerets premier cru in Volnay—fruit from that plot is now the foundation of their famous “Ancienne Cuvée Carnot” bottling. The family continued to grow their holdings, adding vineyards in Beaune Grèves for their iconic “Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus” at the auction of biens nationaux after the Revolution in 1792, and purchasing the Château de Beaune in 1820, where they now house a large library collection of their wines in extensive underground cellars.
The winery was revitalized in 1995 when the Henriot Champagne house purchased the business from the Bouchard family. Henriot has invested extensively in both the vineyards and the winery: Holdings in Meursault were expanded with the 1996 purchase of the Ropiteau domaine, and the following two years saw purchases in Bonnes-Mares, Clos de Vougeot, Gevrey-Chambertin, Les Cazetiers and others. In 2005 the winery was moved to a new gravity-flow facility outside of Beaune, where the number of fermentation tanks nearly doubled to 146, enabling greater precision for separately fermenting parcels. The wines at Bouchard have improved dramatically in the last two decades, restoring the reputation of this historic house.
Style & Vinification Techniques
The white grapes are whole-cluster-pressed in a pneumatic press, and the juice is cold-settled before being racked into stainless steel. The juice begins fermentation in stainless steel, and once half of the sugar has been consumed, the must is transferred to barrel to finish fermentation and aging. Bouchard uses only 10-20% new oak for their whites – even the grands crus – and they avoid bâtonnage, instead turning the barrels to incorporate the lees. The whites are bottled after 10-12 months of barrel-aging.
The red grapes are sorted and generally de-stemmed, though in certain vintages a percentage of whole clusters may be utilized. After a four- to eight-day cold soak, the reds ferment in open, wooden vats as well as stainless steel tanks, and pigeage is performed twice daily by a custom-designed, automated system. Pressing is done with a vertical basket press after about four weeks on the skins. The reds are aged in 10-25% new oak for the village wines, 60-80% for the premiers crus, and 80-100% new oak for the grands crus. The reds are bottled after 10-18 months in oak, and the premiers and grands crus are usually bottled without fining or filtration.
Producer Website: Bouchard Père et Fils