Overview
Les Boucherottes is one of the 28 premier cru climats of Pommard in the Côte de Beaune, and one of the smallest, covering approximately 1.8 hectares at the northern extremity of the commune on the boundary with Beaune. Virtually the whole climat is farmed as the walled Clos des Boucherottes, a 1.81 hectare monopole of Domaine Coste-Caumartin. The site sits at about 255 metres on the lower slope, overlooked to the west by Beaune's Clos des Mouches and bordered to the south and east by Les Petits Epenots. It produces red wine from Pinot Noir.
History
Records place the vineyard within the Domaine Royal as early as 1507. The name is traced to Burgundian dialect, either boucho (bush) or bouchure (a boundary hedge), consistent with the site's position on the Pommard-Beaune limit. The Clos des Boucherottes has been the property of the family behind Domaine Coste-Caumartin since 1908; the domaine itself entered the current family line in 1793, when Antoine Coste took title to its vineyards through marriage. Jérôme Sordet ran the estate from 1988, expanding it from 9 to 12 hectares, and his relative Benoît Sordet has managed it since 2014. Pommard received its appellation d'origine contrôlée on September 11, 1936, and its premiers crus were classified in 1943.
Terroir & Climate
The clos lies on the flatter, lower ground where the Pommard slope runs out toward Beaune, at approximately 255 metres with a southeast exposure. Soils are clay-limestone with marl. The enclosing walls create a mesoclimate the owning domaine credits with the wine's particular character. The position groups Boucherottes with the northern, Beaune-side sector of Pommard around the Epenots, which yields finer-grained wines than the iron-rich upper slope of Les Rugiens on the Volnay side.
Grape Varieties & Wine Styles
Pommard is a red-only appellation and Les Boucherottes is planted entirely to Pinot Noir. Coste-Caumartin's vines average around 36 years of age. Vinification at the domaine uses indigenous yeasts with a cold pre-fermentation phase, followed by 12 months in oak barrels and a further 6 months in tank before bottling. The wine shows the structure expected of Pommard with the comparative elegance of the commune's northern sector, and the domaine recommends drinking from 5 years with a cellaring window of up to 20.
Notable Producers
Domaine Coste-Caumartin holds the Clos des Boucherottes as a monopole, so production of Pommard Premier Cru Les Boucherottes is effectively in a single estate's hands. On the Beaune side of the boundary, Maison Louis Jadot's Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot bottles a Beaune Premier Cru Boucherottes from the separate Beaune climat of the same name.
What to Know
Two appellations use the name Boucherottes: Pommard Premier Cru Les Boucherottes, the small monopole climat described here, and Beaune Premier Cru Les Boucherottes, a larger climat immediately across the commune boundary between Clos des Mouches and Les Epenottes. Labels for the Pommard wine read Le Clos des Boucherottes with the mention Monopole. The climat's nearest Pommard neighbor is Les Petits Epenots, and buyers can expect a related style: Pommard from the Beaune side of the village, firmer than Beaune but less massive than Rugiens. Pommard has no grand cru; its premiers crus, Boucherottes included, are the appellation's top tier.