Bouchard Aîné & Fils Reviews

This wine’s bold black fruit has gentleness, with plenty of energy and intensity, though most of what shows for the moment are complexities derived from oak. Gingerbread, sandalwood and musky spice surround the fruit, which, itself, may not begin to speak until it’s at least ten years old.

An oaky, heady nose with loads of charm: black plums, black cherry, black tea, sage, gunflint. On the palate it makes a big impression, finishing with a dusting of velvety tannins. Youthful with lovely freshness.

Bright millennial pink in the glass, this wine has a nose offering calamansi, Valencia orange and watermelon rind. Juicy, crisp flavors combine watermelon, strawberry and Meyer lemon acidity, with a line of crushed chalk on the finish. FIONA ADAMS

Cherry, pomegranate, cranberry and bramble aromas leap from the glass. This wine offers tart acid and juicy cranberry and pomegranate up front, joined with gentle pepper and spice tones on the midpalate. Tannic grip holds until a final wash of acidity. FIONA ADAMS

White grapefruit, lime and white pepper aromas introduce this Chardonnay. The mouthwatering palate is lemony, also offering white peach, green apple and tinges of apricot. Lime-laced acidity keeps things juicy, loaded with zippy acidity. FIONA ADAMS

This negociant firm, owned by the Boisset family since 1993, produced an impressively fresh Meursault Porusot in 2015. Some of our tasters objected to the oak influence, which one found sawdusty, while others found it appropriately nutty, with baking-spice flavors to accent the apple and fennel flavors. The texture is round and sapid, making this a wine for roast veal.

This has the smooth feel of stones polished in a tumbler, the wine savory and meaty, the texture opulent. A spark of acidity brings out notes of orange pith to balance a hint of nutty, nougat-like sweetness, all of it held with firm elasticity to the structure.

The wine is full of acidity — crisp and tight. With firm tannins to back up the red-currant fruit, it is going to take time to open up. Then it will become a rich serious wine. 

Finalist

Award of Excellence – Chardonnay

FINALIST

Excellent, Highly Recommended.

Best Buy. Fresh and bright with red raspberry flavor, this is a lean, peppery red. Its tangy acidity will clean up after duck confit.

Here the nose is quite similar to that of the Beaune with just a bit more elegance as the fruit is slightly higher-toned. The palate impression is, not surprisingly, a bit firmer than that of the Beaune but this too is relatively accessible with slightly better depth and length on the more well-defined finish. This should benefit from a few years in the cellar if desired but it could also be drunk with pleasure now after 30 minutes in a decanter.

This is a classic Gevrey with its wonderfully fresh and exuberant nose of airy and mineral-inflected dark berry fruit aromas that are cut with notes of underbrush and earth. There is better than average detail on the attractively textured medium weight flavors where the supporting tannins carry only a trace of rusticity. This refreshing and moderately firm effort does display a touch of wood on the long finish but it's not enough to affect the texture.