Domaine Boigey Frères Bourgogne Rouge 2023 750ml

Steen Öhman tasted the 2023s in February 2025 and called them a step up in Vosne-Romanée's ranks; this Bourgogne is the cheapest way to check his claim.

The label says Propriétaire & Récoltant à Vosne-Romanée, and the vines sit inside that commune. According to the importer Nouvelles Sélections the Bourgogne Rouge comes from a single hectare of regional-level Pinot Noir with an average vine age of forty years, cropped at 40 hl/ha. Fermentation is in stainless steel on native yeasts only, the fruit fully destemmed; malolactic conversion and fourteen months of ageing follow in barrel, of which one fifth is new. Nothing is added except a trace of sulphur. Olivier and Guillaume Boigey told the importer they ignore the oenologists who push additives for a dense, modern style and prefer to keep watching the wine and let it be.

The brothers descend from the Noirot family, in Vosne since 1850. Their grandmother Lucienne Noirot inherited the parcels, which were leased for decades to Manière-Noirot; when the leases ran out in 2017 the two sons, who had been working at Mongeard-Mugneret among others, took every vine back and founded the domaine in 2018 on 3.15 ha, with 2019 as the first vintage. They stopped chemical fertilisers and pesticides immediately and applied for HVE level 3 certification. Nouvelles Sélections, which imports the wines to Japan, describes the first release as classic Burgundy, light, savoury and glossy.

2023 is the vintage in which the estate grew. Winehog records that production stood at 9,000 bottles in 2022 and rose in 2023 once the full 0.7 ha of Suchots came back, with a 0.12 ha plot of Échezeaux Les Poulaillères joining the range. In the first two vintages the brothers made only three wines, and this Bourgogne was one of them, so it carries the longest track record in the cellar.

In the glass

Steen Öhman of Winehog (February 2025) finds the openly knit style of the vintage, griotte cherry and raspberry, with more energy and a hedonistic charm than earlier years, and rates it Very Good, 87-88 points. Neal Martin of Vinous (November 2024, as quoted by FINE+RARE) gives 87 points for a very aromatic bouquet of red cherry and crushed strawberry, a medium-bodied palate with supple tannins and light peppery notes that emerge with air. The importer's own words for the house style are a natural flavour that is never dense.

When to open

Neal Martin suggests 2025 to 2027; Steen Öhman writes drink from 2025. Our suggestion is a light chill at 14 to 16 degrees and no decanting.

At the table

Our suggestion: roast poultry, a simple beef tataki, or duck with cherries; the Japanese retailer Chai Yoshizawa files it under wines for washoku.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Our label; Nouvelles Sélections (Japanese importer); Winehog (S. Öhman); Vinous (N. Martin, as quoted by FINE+RARE); Dragee; Chai Yoshizawa