The Wine Advocate | RP 90-92
Published: Jan 18, 2024

Offering up aromas of sweet cherries, plums and licorice, the 2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières is medium to full-bodied, broad and charming, with a sweet, fleshy core of fruit that largely conceals its supple structuring tannins. This will offer a wide drinking window.

The 2022 vintage is another tour de force for Bouchard, as the accompanying tasting notes reflect. Technical director Frédéric Weber reported little in the way of hydric stress, with rapid ripening at the end of the season that saw some parcels accumulate 1.5% potential alcohol in as little as three days. Fortunately, the team hadn't performed any deleafing and were able to apply protective kaolin clay as sunblock for the leaves and fruit to ride out the heat wave. Harvest began on August 26, with anything picked after 11 a.m. left overnight in a cold room for processing the following day, and the harvesters stopping work at 2 p.m.

As I've written before, viticulture chez Bouchard is among the best of the big houses (I drive past their Beaune vineyards several hundred times every year). Organic conversion is underway, and canopies are now hedged to 1.30 meters, around 30 centimeters higher than the classic low rognage that still predominates along the Côte—forward-thinking innovations that will no doubt find imitators in short order among other big players. Vinifications in red increasingly incorporate whole bunches, and whites are barreled down before the end of alcoholic fermentation, with foudres now employed for the second winter of élevage for some cuvées.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 93
Published: July 24, 2024

Marvelous nose of black raspberries and sour cherries with savory and wet-earth complexity. Although only medium-bodied, this is a rich wine for the appellation, but with more than enough freshness and fine tannin to carry this. Long, savory finish. From one plot of 4 hectares with southerly exposure and stony limestone soil. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

Winemaker

The name of this "Climat" with rocky sub-soil comes from the great number of big flat stones called "laves" in the area. These natural stone slabs were used by the Merovingians for their tombs. One of these can be seen in the Louis XI room in the Chateau de Beaune. Bouchard Pere & Fils owns 3.94 hectares of Savigny Premier Cru acquired at the beginning of the 20th century.

T A S T I N G
TASTING NOTE: Delicate bouquet with berry fruit notes. On the palate, seductive with the subtle intensity of its aromas and for its tenderness. Good ageing potential.
FOOD/WINE PAIRING: White meat dishes in sauce, game birds (quail, pigeon, etc...).
SERVING TEMPERATURE: Between 17C to 18C 
AGEING POTENTIAL: 5 to 7 years and more

K N O W - H O W
HARVEST: manual, in small cases of 13 kg. Careful manual sorting of each grape.
VINIFICATION: Following total or partial destemming on the vintage, fermentation in small containers, gentle pressing ensure optimal vinification. Depending on the profile of the vintage, vatting lasts 15 to 18 days.
MATURING: 12 to 14 months in French oak, with 25 to 35% new oak.
AGEING: The cellars of the Bastions of the ancient Ch?teau de Beaune offer natural ambient conditions that are perfectly adapted to ageing the Premiers Crus.

V I N E Y A R D
GRAPE VARIETY: Pinot Noir
EXPOSITION: South
SOIL OF THE APPELATION: Limestone and clay
TOTAL SURFACE OF THE APPELATION IN PRODUCTION:17.66 hectares
DOMAIN SURFACE IN PRODUCTION: 3.94 hectares