We know the term “Budget Burgundy” gets thrown around quite often these days, and fair enough given that the region’s wine prices continue to skyrocket while most drinkers seek accessible pleasures from up and down the Côte d’Or. However, with this week’s wine of the moment, we have opted for a more descriptive, albeit cheekier, classification for Guy Bocard’s regionally classified Chardonnay – the Mini Meursault!
The Story of Domaine Guy Bocard
Based in the heart of what can easily be argued as the Côte de Beaune’s most noteworthy appellation, the Bocard family’s history begins in 1920, predating Meursault’s AOC certification by a good decade and a half. By the 1980s, the Domaine began its ascent with namesake Guy Bocard at the helm, expanding both production and vineyard ownership of the winery till his retirement in 2018. The beginning of the 2020s marked significant yet exciting changes for the Domaine with Rene Mora, a former longtime employee of Guy brought on to manage the winery with a conversion to full organics as of 2022.
Philippe Pacalet and the Winemaking at Bocard
Nowadays in the cellar, wine lovers might recognize a familiar face and name behind the winemaking at Domaine Guy Bocard, as Burgundian luminary Philippe Pacalet (Yes, that Philippe Pacalet) now leads the charge for Bocard’s wines and its intrinsic connection to Meursault. Known for his antiquarian approach to winemaking that includes spontaneous fermentations to capture terroir in totality, minimal additions of preservatives, lots of time on lees, and an uncompromising educational lineage under wine titans such as Jules Chauvet and Marcel Lapierre, Pacalet’s approach has made Bocard’s whites an absolute benchmark for us in the appellation, if not in Burgundy at large, and we are incredibly excited to see where his oenological philosophies take the future of the Domaine.
About the Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2023
Sourced from three different plots between a climat to the north of the village of Meursault and two lieu-dits just due south, the 2023 Côte d’Or is more than a simple sum of parts; an accumulation of fruit born from forty-year-old south and southeast facing vines of Chardonnay planted on the village’s iconic clay and limestone soils. The fruit is entirely harvested by hand, pressed slowly as whole bunches, and aged for a year in Burgundian pièce with a small percentage of new wood (about 15% to be exact) before finishing in stainless to keep it crispy before bottling and subsequent release.
Côte d’Or 2023 Tasting Notes
For those that are new to the wines of the estate, there couldn’t be a better gateway than this: preserved lemon, curry leaf, pan tao peaches, apricot kernel, citrus curd, and a strike of flint, a wine comprised of equal parts jovial and intellectual stimulation for the aficionado and the amateur alike.
Food Pairings
Delicious with a local specialty charcuterie of Jambon Persillée or even Japanese prawn tempura crowned atop a bowl of udon and kombu dashi. And perhaps, a fantastic blind to blow away even the most particular Burgundy pundits in your inner circle at the next bottle share.
What the Critics Say
“Light, stony citrus. Lightish but mouth-wateringly pure. Straightforward and correct, yet surprisingly persistent. A very good find.”
16 pts for the ’21 vintage from Julia Harding MW for Jancis Robinson
Wine Details
- Wine: Guy Bocard Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2023
- Region: Burgundy, France
- Grape: Chardonnay
- Vines: Forty years old, south and southeast facing, on clay and limestone
- Aging: One year in Burgundian pièce (about 15% new wood), finished in stainless steel
- ABV: 14%
Interested in ordering a bottle? Or discovering more wines from Guy Bocard and this phenomenal estate led by a Burgundy legend in the Cotes de Beaune? Send us an email at order@winegarage.asia.