Lucien Boillot, I tried

R

Rahsaan

Rahsaan
As a big fan of Louis Boillot, I've long wondered about the Lucien Boillot wines. I heard they were more forward and approachable, which is not necessarily my absolute favorite style, but there is nothing wrong with having wines that drink well!

So I bought bottles of 2015 Lucien Boillot Volnay and 2015 Lucien Boillot Gevrey Chambertin. Both were indeed friendly easy and fruity, and made me think of gateway-Burgundy-for-CA-pinot-lovers. I had a slight preference for the Volnay with its silk and underlying mineral definition. The Gevrey was a bit more meaty and wilder in the flavors. But for both wines I quickly got tired of drinking them.

Sure 2015 was not the best vintage to try this style. But I've had many other 2015s that showed the elegance I enjoy. Oh well, you live and you learn and I won't be making many efforts in this direction in the near future.
 
And might I add, that I opened these on two different evenings and in both cases I was much happier to move on to armagnac seasoned with splashes of the liquid from tart cherry preserves. All the flavor but with more refinement and more grip!
 
I gravitate to any bottle that has Boillot on the label. And my enthusiasm seems to mistake itself and carry over to Voillot and Billiot, seldom with ill effect.

I agree with your assessment that Lucien is less disorderly and it is easy to see why the brothers split. But that split gives us a great way to test our theories: get a bottle from each Louis and Lucien from 2008, from Cherbaudes and les Croix Noires. What works best? Can you tell the difference? Cote de Nuit v Cote de Beaune? Both vignobles have very old vines ~ 60 and 80 I think ~ does Lucien work better further south? Friends and I had a lot of fun with those 4 bottles over a very long dinner.

Try the same with the over-rated vineyard of les Evocelles...

And the follow up experiment in the not too distant future: what does Clement Boillot-Barthod do with Cherbaudes? He'll also be in a great spot to be very very picky about what goes in his Bourgogne Rouge.
 
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
I gravitate to any bottle that has Boillot on the label. And my enthusiasm seems to mistake itself and carry over to Voillot and Billiot, seldom with ill effect.
Click to expand...

Not a bad crew. Louis Boillot and Joseph Voillot are the overwhelming majority of my modest Burgundy collection.

that split gives us a great way to test our theories: get a bottle from each Louis and Lucien from 2008, from Cherbaudes and les Croix Noires. What works best? Can you tell the difference? Cote de Nuit v Cote de Beaune? Both vignobles have very old vines ~ 60 and 80 I think ~ does Lucien work better further south? Friends and I had a lot of fun with those 4 bottles over a very long dinner.
Click to expand...

Not a bad approach. I don't see much of the Cherbaudes from either domaine, but it is a good idea. I have a few vintages of the Louis Boillot Cherbaudes waiting to enter the drinking zone.
 
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
I gravitate to any bottle that has Boillot on the label. And my enthusiasm seems to mistake itself and carry over to Voillot and Billiot, seldom with ill effect.

I agree with your assessment that Lucien is less disorderly and it is easy to see why the brothers split. But that split gives us a great way to test our theories: get a bottle from each Louis and Lucien from 2008, from Cherbaudes and les Croix Noires. What works best? Can you tell the difference? Cote de Nuit v Cote de Beaune? Both vignobles have very old vines ~ 60 and 80 I think ~ does Lucien work better further south? Friends and I had a lot of fun with those 4 bottles over a very long dinner.

Try the same with the over-rated vineyard of les Evocelles...

And the follow up experiment in the not too distant future: what does Clement Boillot-Barthod do with Cherbaudes? He'll also be in a great spot to be very very picky about what goes in his Bourgogne Rouge.
Click to expand...

I've never thought of Lucien Boillot to be more modern or fruit forward but rather a bit old school and rustic. It's been a minute since I've tried the wines though. I'll look for something reasonably priced.

Clement Boillot-Barthod is certainly going to have quite the domain. I wonder if he'll trade some of those 1ers for a slice of Bonnes-Mares.
 
Lucien is my favorite of the Boillots. Agree with the above that they have a sort of rustic power. I would not judge them on the basis of village wines. Regardless, your description of the village wines makes them sound true-to-terroir if not gripping you to the edge of your seat - I don't think you can expect much more than that at the village level. Try the Pruliers and if that doesn't rock your world, then you can comfortably move on.
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
Lucien is my favorite of the Boillots. Agree with the above that they have a sort of rustic power. I would not judge them on the basis of village wines. Regardless, your description of the village wines makes them sound true-to-terroir if not gripping you to the edge of your seat - I don't think you can expect much more than that at the village level. Try the Pruliers and if that doesn't rock your world, then you can comfortably move on.
Click to expand...

Are they the kind of producer where a premier (e.g., the Pruliers) would tend to have more noticeable oak than the village wines?
 
Web search suggested her grandfather Pierre Boillot had a small domaine in Meursault, but that doesn't sound like the Pierre Boillot who runs Lucien Boillot, and no other Pierre Boillots in that line, to my knowledge.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Web search suggested her grandfather Pierre Boillot had a small domaine in Meursault, but that doesn't sound like the Pierre Boillot who runs Lucien Boillot, and no other Pierre Boillots in that line, to my knowledge.
Click to expand...

I have it on good authority that her grandfather Pierre Morey changed his name to Boillot to avoid popular confusion with other prominent, only nominally-related Côte De Beaune families.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Web search suggested her grandfather Pierre Boillot had a small domaine in Meursault, but that doesn't sound like the Pierre Boillot who runs Lucien Boillot, and no other Pierre Boillots in that line, to my knowledge.
Click to expand...

I have it on good authority that her grandfather Pierre Morey changed his name to Boillot to avoid popular confusion with other prominent, only nominally-related Côte De Beaune families.
Click to expand...

if only he had changed it to "luxury yacht". . .
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by robert ames:
if only he had changed it to "luxury yacht". . .
Click to expand...
Funny you say that. Just yesterday I told someone to name a script variable throat-warbler-mangrove.
Click to expand...

one of my many many favourite skits. yes, i have the entire flying circus collection on dvd and yes, i still watch them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top