Bouchard Pere et Fils
Chambertin Clos de Beze Grand Cru
Gevrey Chambertin
2015

The producer

Hailing back nine generations over three centuries to 1731 the story of Bouchard Pere & Fils is that of gradual and consistent accumulation of fine parcels of vineyards throughout the length of the Cote d’Or. Their famous monopole Beaune Greve Vigne de l’Enfant was purchased during the French Revolution while their headquarters - the historic Chateau de Beaune with its deep underground cellars - was bought in 1820.

Centurion-plus wines in these cellars attest to a history of fine winemaking but for a while in the 20^th century quality languished. That is not the case today as Bouchard Pere & Fils rates as one of the great houses of Burgundy with 130ha of vines, 12ha of which are Grand Cru and 74ha Premier Cru in some of the greatest names of the Cote d”Or. Their holdings include Beaune, Chambolle, Gevrey, Nuits, Pommard, Volnay and Vosne, as well as in Chassagne, Puligny, Corton and Meursault. A new winery was established in 2005, which has significantly improved their capacity. When combined with their holdings, astute acquisitions and undoubted winemaking skills, Bouchard are an impressive player in the region.

The wine

Fruit is sourced from Gevrey’s finest growers with whom Bouchard has long-standing relationships. The winemaking is traditional with soft maceration and 12-18 months ageing in small oak barrels, of which up to 50% are new. Rich and generous, spiced and perfumed, Bouchard’s Clos de Beze has great balance between the firm structure and forward red fruit concentration and a long succulent finish.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.