Thomas Bouley’s 2024s

 

By Paul W — June 2026

If I were told that my brain needed an update and that to make room for it I could only remember one wine, without hesitation, I would pick 1865 Volnay Santenots from Bouchard.

Explaining why would require more space than I have on this platform, so here are two reasons:

Even served alongside La Romanée 1865, it was Volnay that drove the stake into my heart.

No matter how deeply enamored I am with young, crunchy, natural-leaning wines, the complexity of very old, properly stored wine can be gut-wrenching.

Last week, I tasted Thomas Bouley’s 2024s. For a few vintages his wines have been thoroughly enjoyable young, but they are unapologetically built to age. I suppose this would put them in the so-called classic category. However, chez Thomas, classic does not mean old school: there is no detail in his farming or winemaking that he hasn’t thought of, considered, changed — or kept.

Simply put, Thomas is among the most thoughtful vignerons, not in the classical “tradition” but with a classical “purpose”: that Burgundy can and should be aged to reward you with transcendent emotions.

Will less structured Burgundies do the same? I really don’t know. It’s a fairly recent esthetic here, and we are eagerly waiting for them to age for a couple of decades at least. Maybe it’s not even their purpose, yet I suspect that several will also transform into complex old wines and that they will get to that place faster but perhaps linger there with a shorter plateau. As to their beauty, it will probably be more ethereal. Then again, that 1865 was also ethereal, disappearing, gauze curtains moved by a breeze.

So I don’t know, but I don’t care that I don’t. Tasting the incremental changes in the most recent vintage with the most committed vignerons is enthralling enough. Thomas’ 2024s are incredible. Plus, I’d bet the farm
on how great some will taste in 50 years, maybe even 150.