2010 Sancerre Clos de Beaujeu

Strong oil and fusil notes combine with pungent lime and grapefruit zest, green herbs, and suggestions of iodine in the complex and penetrating nose of Boulay’s 2010 Sancerre Clos de Beaujeu, setting the tone for a brightly and juicily citric, herb- and mineral-saturated palate performance, over which a bittersweet floral perfume hangs alluringly. This finishes with tingling brightness, zesty piquancy, mouthwatering salinity and grip, albeit less long-lined and diversely mineral than the corresponding Mont Damnes. And like that wine, it became more expressive after it had been open for half an hour. Here is another candidate for at least a decade’s cellaring, though it could certainly be drunk without regret today. In a reversal of the procedure Boulay followed with this year’s Mont Damnes, the Clos de Beaujeu fermented in tank and was then raised in assorted (older 300-liter) barrels. Gerard Boulay, like Thomas Labaille, has just moved into his own spacious new warehouse-like facility along the main road from Chavignol to Sancerre. He is thrilled to at last not be constrained by tight cellar facilities, as well as to have a common location where he can show and sell, as well as raise his young wines. There has seldom, if ever, been a finer pair of vintages back to back here than 2010 and 2011, which among other things fully vindicates Boulay’s decision – which might initially have seemed too eager – to proliferate progressively more expensive cuvees. At the same time, the basic bottlings from this address – in pink as well as white – remain consistently outstanding values. (Granted, 2009 is the exception that proves the rule.) It’s a pleasure to witness the buzz beginning at last to collect both in France and abroad around this diligent grower whose wines for so long far-excelled his modest reputation. (Full disclosure: In my previous profession, I was an early importer of Boulay’s wines ... but as such, I have also had chance to taste lots of old wines from this cellar, and thus know whereof I speak!) Boulay picked from September 3-14, 2011 and began on the 25th in 2010. As if to make amends for nature’s 2009 naughtiness and any complicity for which he might have felt responsible, Boulay’s bottlings in both subsequent vintages are notably low in alcohol, rarely exceeding 13%. Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29