Domaine Gènot-Boulanger
Guillaume Lavollée
meursault
côte de beaune - burgundy
story…
In 1974 Charles-Henri Génot and his wife Marie née Boulanger left their lives as pharmacists in Paris to follow their dream of establishing a viticultural domaine in Burgundy. They set down roots in Meursault in the heart of the Côte de Beaune and shortly thereafter acquired their first vineyards in Mercurey and thus establishing Domaine Génot-Boulanger. Charles-Henri was always on the hunt for new terroirs to work with and over the years he acquired a diverse collection of sites under the domaine, including several parcels in Meursault most notably “Clos du Cromin” as well as parcels in Chassagne-Montrachet, Volnay, Pommard and Beaune. By 1998 the domaine had vineyards totaling around 22 hectares across 30 appellation spanning nearly the whole of the golden slope and on into the Côte Chalonnaise.
François Delaby was next in line to head this beautiful domaine and all of its holdings, François inherited the estate in 1998. He continued the family tradition for ten years and during that time he added several new holdings to the domaine including the Premier Crus of “La Garenne” & “Les Folatières” in Puligny-Montrachet. In 2008 François’ duaghter Aude and her husband, Guillaume Lavollée joined him at the domaine and soon after took full control of the estate.
Aude & Guillaume have brought a fresh sense of focus to the domaine since joining the family business. Both of whom have a strong passion for the vineyards and how they are farmed. They almost immediately began converting the collection of vineyards they have at their disposal to organic farming. They have also implemented and experimented with a handful of biodynamic practices in the vineyards, always on the hunt for ways to help facilitate healthy, living soils in their vineyards. Along with this new focus in the vineyards they also have adjust their cellar practices to enhance the new vineyard focus and apply minimalist techniques during elevage to highlight their diverse and unique terroirs.
farming & Philosophy…
Farming across all their vineyards sites is strictly done with organic practices, however each vineyard, parcel and even vine in some cases is treated as its own entity. Adjustments are made in their practices to suit the individual plot or vine in order to exact the best health of the soil and vine to obtain the best quality fruit. They plow the soils of their plots and have in recent years begun experimenting with horse-drawn plowing in some of their smaller parcels and have been pleasantly please with the results of that experiment. All of their plots are painstakingly worked by hand and harvested by hand.
Cellar practices are self-proclaimed as low intervention, seeking to guide the fruit to bottle without imparting too much winemaking influence on the finished product. For both white and red production there is an overarching philosophy or breakdown of taking the harvest fruit to finished wine, but each parcel is treated as its own and allowed to follow its own path and timeline. That being said white production generally goes as follows; fruit is whole cluster pressed and after a light settling is put directly into barrel where native fermentation takes place as well as élevage. On average there is about 20-30% new oak barrels used in the production of the white wines. There is no lees stirring during élevage in order to avoid any premature aging, after 12 months the wines are racked to tank for an additional 6 months of aging before being bottled. For their red wines fermentation takes place in tank, with native yeasts, and depending on the vintage and site the fruit can be either fully de-stemmed, partial or all whole cluster fermented. Also depending on the vintage and site gentle punch downs and pump overs are down during the 20-25 day fermentation and extraction. The fermented juice is then transferred to oak barrels to age for 12 months,with the average percentage of new oak being about 20%. The wine is then racked to tank for a further six months aging prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered. SO2 is used but only in very small amounts when needed.
Vineyards…
Génot-Boulanger is rare estate in Burgundy, in the fact that they are one of only a handful of family-owned domaines to produce such a diverse range of bottlings across nearly the whole of Burgundy. The only produce wines from estate owned vineyards, of which they hold in both the Côte de Nuits & Côte de Beaune as well as in the Côte Chalonnais. The majority of their holdings are located in the Côte de Beaune, as is the domaine itself. Below is list of highlighted appellations and lieu dit’s that the domaine bottles and are available at specific times throughout the year.
Côte de Nuits:
Chambolle-Musigny
they own 2 parcels in Chambolle equalling .76 hectares between the two | they have parcels in both Les Nazoires & Les Mombies which are both located at the bottom of the slope on the Vougeot side of the vineyards
Côte de Beaune:
Beaune “En Lulunne”
small vineyard that lies just up the valley from the Premier Cru site, Montrevenots | the vineyard is 4.30 hectares in total
Puligny-Montrachet “Nosroyes”
located just under the 1er Cru “Les Perrières in limestone heavy soils | they own a 1.13 hectare plot located in the middle of the slope
Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Folatières”
a .35 hectare plot with an ideal southearten exposure in a healthy balance of limestone & marly clay soils | vineyard was planted in the 70’s | the family considers this one of the best sites in Puligny
Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Vergers”
a .7 hectare plot located north of the village and facing east on mostly limestone soils with a mix of marl and sand in varying concentrations | vineyard was planted in 2004
Meursault 1er Cru “Bouchères”
a singular site in Meursault, Bouchères is one in one of the most barren areas of the region due to it’s very thin & rocky topsoil, the limestone bedrock is essentially at the surface across the entire site | the Genot plot is a .61 hectare parcel planted in the 90’s
Meursault “Clos du Cromin”
the first and for many years the only parcel the domaine owned in Meursault and therefore became the most recognizable bottling from the domaines Meursault line-up | located on the bordering hillside to Volnay, and historically was planted to Pinot Noir | the Boulanger’s own a 1.42 hectare plot at the bottom of the slope in clay rich soils
Meursault “Meix Chavaux”
a north easterly facing site with very stoney and shallow soils on the west side of the village | their .50 hectare plot is located at mid-slope and was planted in 1970
Pommard
they own 3 parcels in Pommard; Les Cras, Les Vignot, & La Chanière that go into their Vieilles Vignes bottling of Pommard every year. Les Cras is found at the bottom of the slope and is the rockier of the three sites, where as Les Vignots & La Chanière are at the top of the slope in more clay based calcareous soils | in total the 3 parcels equal 2.22 hectares of vines
Pommard 1er Cru “Clos Blanc”
located just next to the entrance to the village of Pommard, directly next to the highly regarded Les Grand Epenots; the site gets its name from the large concentration of limestone and clay | the domaine owns a .33 hectare parcel planted in 1966
Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru “Clos du Chapitre”
a .97 hectare vineyard that in entirely enclosed by walls and located in the heart of the Aloxe-Corton village | the vines are on average over 50 years of age and are planted in red/brown soils over silex and limestone
Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
a .29 hectare parcel in the “Le Charlemagne” vineyard on this legendary hill with a south-west exposure | the vines were planted in 1940 and their parcel of vines lies on top of layers of Oxfordian Jurassic bedrock
Côte Chalonnaise:
Mercurey-Sazenay 1er Cru
a 1.81 hectare plot ideally situated on the slope with a full eastern exposure | their plot was planted in 2000 & 2015
