Wine Advisor
Henri Boillot, Montrachet Grand Cru 2012
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Boillot's 2012 Montrachet is surprisingly mid-weight and restrained in this vintage. The aromas and flavors are also on the bright, floral side of the spectrum. Overall, this is a fairly delicate, feminine Montrachet with good length and polish, but less of the exuberance I associate with Boillot's Montrachet.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Slightly hazy due to a recent stirring of the lees. Highly complex nose combines candied lemon, pineapple, menthol, linden tea, ginger and caramel. Thick and seamless in texture and showing a slightly exotic candied quality, but racy acidity gives sharp relief to the intense orange and lemon zest fruit. Really echoes on the gripping finish, showing a whiplash of citrus and saline flavors. These were the latest-picked vines in 2012, along with the Batard and Corton-Charlemagne, but this stunning wine remains just on the right side of surmaturite.
About the Producer
Domaine Henri Boillot, located in the wine-producing village of Meursault in the Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France, is a winery with a long history of quality. The vineyards of Château Boileau are located in the Côtes de Bern and Cote de Nuits appellations. The grapes for the white wines are mainly produced in the Grand Cru and Premier Cru of Prigny-Montrachet, where the soil is mainly brown limestone with occasional limestone clay soils, giving the white wines a complex and elegant taste. The grapes for the red wines come mainly from the first growths of the Volnay appellation, where the soils are mainly schist and limestone, giving the wines aromatic intensity and finesse. Château Boisrot follows traditional winemaking techniques. When the grapes reach optimum ripeness, they are picked by hand and transported to the winery. In the winery, the grapes are carefully selected and destemmed by the winery workers in order to select the best quality fruit. For the white wines, the grapes are pressed after breaking their skins and the must is then poured into fermenters where it is partially fermented and transferred to new French oak barrels for maturation. Unlike white wines, red wines are made by placing the broken skins of the grapes directly into the fermenters, allowing the skins to come into contact with the juice to extract the right amount of pigments, tannins and flavours. After fermentation, all red wines are matured in new French oak barrels, allowing oxygen to penetrate through the grain and soften the tannins, giving the wine a smooth texture and complex aromas. Currently, all of Château Boisrot's white wines are made from Chardonnay, a fresh and fruity wine that has been described as the 'star of white wines' in Burgundy. The red wines are all made from Pinot Noir, a rich and powerful wine that has received a great deal of praise from wine critics and wine reviewers.
