2022 Gerard Boulay Clos de Beaujeu Sancerre, Loire Valley

Le Clos de Beaujeu is one of Boulay’s ‘blue-blood’ historic sites. Boulay farms two parcels in this terroir, including one within the original Clos of this vineyard, established by the monks of Beaujeu in the Middle Ages. This parcel is historically known as Le Grand Clos. For this reason, Boulay names this wine Clos de Beaujeu rather than the more ubiquitous Cul de Beaujeu. In his book entitled Le Vignoble de Chavignol, Thibaut Boulay notes that this vineyard first appears in documents dating to 1328 as the Clausus de Bellojoco, an indication of this terroir’s age-old origins.

Vines on this slope of Kimmeridgian limestone and clay (terre blanches) sit between 30 and (a remarkable) 110 years old. The soils here are particularly rocky—limestone rich and strewn with fossils—making this parcel very difficult to farm. A second, even steeper parcel at a 60 per cent gradient lies closer to the village. Together, these south-east facing plots make the Clos de Beaujeu the source of some of the domaine’s most structured and nervy wines. This cuvée is naturally fermented and raised in large, upright cask (60%) and three- and four-year-old 300-litre barrels (40%) for 10 months.

The 2022 season has yielded a special Clos Beaujeu that promises to age for decades. Right now, there is a racy, floral and mineral attack underscored by citrus oil, while the palate is long and seamless, wreathed in sea spray and Mirabelle plum favour with a savoury edge. Closes with exceptional focus and grip on the long and still quite reserved finish. Fabulous. This is emphatically built for the cellar and needs bottle age to allow its secondary layers of complexity to emerge. Still, it is so well-balanced that those curious can certainly drink it in its youth with great pleasure. But try to tuck it away in the cellar for at least a few years.