2022 Henri Boillot - Volnay Fremiets (750ml) [PRE ARRIVAL]

Henri Boillot took over winemaking duties from his father in the 1970s and, in 2000, built a new winery at the foot of Meursault before buying out his siblings to keep the family's vineyards together, renaming the estate Domaine Henri Boillot to avoid confusion with his brother Jean-Marc's own label. His son Guillaume now works alongside him, tending roughly fourteen hectares that include the monopole Clos de la Mouchère.

Les Fremiets sits at the northern edge of Volnay, right on the Pommard border opposite Jarolières, on gravelly limestone soil with a red clay matrix that gives it more structure and firmness than Volnay's softer, southern sites. The grapes ripen richer here than on the Meursault side. Farming is organic with low yields, and the wine is raised in oak with roughly forty to fifty percent new wood.

The 2022 shows a dark, almost somber side of Volnay, with blue and purple fruit, new leather, licorice, and lavender, joined by gravel, dried flowers, and dark spice. It's a decidedly virile, imposing wine whose tannins need time to soften, though there's plenty of fruit underneath. Let it rest a few years, then pour it with roast duck breast, hare, or stuffed capon.