Reviews & Awards

The 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Côte Bouguerots has an extremely focused, mineral-dense bouquet that is "vrai Chablis." There is a strong marine influence here. The palate is fresh and vibrant with lemon zest, lime, minerals and a crescendo of power toward the finish. Around 70% is vinified in oak and matured for six months before transferring into stainless steel, and this fills out, adds volume to the finish. There is a pleasant bitter note right on the finish. This should be superb.

This is perennially one of my favorite wines and one that I buy virtually every vintage. The 2013 version displays a deft touch of oak that again is sufficiently subtle as to allow the ripe and very fresh white and yellow orchard fruit, sea breeze and iodine scents to shine. There is excellent punch as well as fine detail to the almost aggressively mineral-driven flavors that possess good power but also a lovely sense of refinement on the wonderfully long and impeccably well-balanced finish. Exquisite.

Bougros produces rich wines, and this wine comes from the extra-ripe vineyard at the base of the slope. It is generous, giving a weighty character with the flavors plumbing the depths of richness. On top, a beautiful, almost sweet acidity leaves a fresh feeling in the mouth.

This light-footed white delivers apple, stone and spice flavors that are intense and long. Vivid acidity keeps this defined, while the fruit and mineral elements persist.

(from a ~6 ha parcel). There is good Chablis character suffusing the expressive nose that is composed primarily of green fruit, mineral reduction and sea water. There is knockout intensity to the highly energetic big-bodied flavors that display plenty of citrus on the moderately austere and highly persistent finish. This is not as complex and certainly not as refined as the best of these grands crus yet there is plenty to admire all the same.

Oyster shell, stone, apple, melon and lemon flavors highlight this intense Chablis. Firm and long, with a resounding aftertaste of mineral.

The 2014 Chablis Grand Cru Bougros, is vinified 60% in used wood where it matured for six months before being transferred to stainless steel. It has a showy, generous bouquet with dewy Granny Smith apple, freshly sliced pear and chalk-scented nose. There is no holding back here. The palate is fresh and crisp, very harmonious, not powerful as such, but displaying admirable precision on the finish. I would agree with Didier Ségieur in that this forms one of the more approachable, less-challenging Grand Crus.

The vineyard of Bougros can often produce a more forward grand cru, but the 2015 from Domaine William Fèvre has plenty of cut and grip to go along with its beautiful fruit tones. The wine wafts from the glass in a classy mix of golden delicious apples, pears, lemon, a hint of the acacia blossoms to come, chalky minerality and just a whisper of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure, with a great core, fine mineral drive and a very long, vibrant and racy finish.

Pale green-tinged yellow; does not look like a 2013! High-pitched nose offers lime zest and oyster shell minerality, with very little sign of botrytis. Densely packed and pliant but not at all heavy, with seductive sucrosité leavened by harmonious acidity. This very long wine will be easy to drink young.

A subtle touch of wood sets off the restrained and all but mute nose where about the only identifiable aromas are green fruit and algae so be sure to decant this if you’re going to try a bottle young. Otherwise there is very fine richness to the big-bodied and overtly powerful flavors that deliver stunningly good length and depth. This is mildly rustic but has so many other things going for it that it’s worth considering anyway.