Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune du Château 1er Cru Rouge 2022, Burgundy

Bouchard Père & Fils has released its Beaune du Château 1er Cru Rouge every year since 1907, and it remains a snapshot of the whole Beaune hillside. The Pinot Noir comes from thirteen of the domaine’s Beaune Premier Cru plots, including Les Grèves, Les Bressandes, Clos du Roi, Les Cent Vignes and Les Toussaints, on pebbly, marly limestone at 230–280 metres. Grapes are hand-picked and sorted, each plot is fermented separately in small vats with 12–16 days on the skins, and the blend is aged for 16–18 months in French oak, around a quarter to a third of it new, in the house’s cellars.

Deep garnet in colour, it shows bright cherry and ripe red berries, fig, peony and a hint of chocolate, with sweet spice and earthy, forest-floor notes. The palate is harmonious and deep, with good ripeness and dense yet refined tannins.

Serve at 17–18°C with roast chicken or poultry in a creamy sauce, veal, roast pork, duck or mushroom dishes. Bouchard’s Beaune du Château Rouge is approachable now and will develop nicely over 5–7 years, and often longer.

Bouchard Père & Fils is one of Burgundy’s great historic houses. Michel Bouchard, a cloth merchant from the Dauphiné, settled in Beaune and founded the business in 1731, and in 1775 his son Joseph bought the family’s first vines in Pommard. In 1820 the family acquired the medieval Château de Beaune, whose underground galleries became the house’s ageing cellars. The Henriot family took control in 1995, adding prestigious new vineyards, and in 2022 Bouchard joined Artémis Domaines. The house began moving to organic farming in 2009, and from the 2025 vintage all of its estate plots are certified organic. Its Beaune du Château cuvées, blended from Premier Cru vineyards on the domaine, have been released every year since 1907.