The 2022 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes has turned out beautifully, wafting from the glass with notes of cassis, rose petals and spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered palate with a cool core of fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins that assert themselves on the floral finish. Especially suave and perfumed, it's reminiscent of a purer, more integrated version of Bouley's 2019. Walk through the vineyards of the Côte de Beaune, and Thomas Bouley’s vines are easy to spot. Their unusually high, evenly spaced canopies are hedged little and late, casting dappled shade over supple, aerated soils that are often covered with a delicate carpet of grass and weeds. At harvest, his yields are moderate, and clusters are invariably open and healthy. Vineyards don’t look like this by accident, and it’s both Bouley’s results and the indefatigable work ethic that lies behind them that have won him the near-universal admiration of other growers along the Côte d’Or. Yet in many respects, Bouley remains—as I’ve written before in these pages—a vigneron’s vigneron: someone more talked about by his neighbors than by collectors overseas, who are more readily seduced by social media savoir faire than hard work in the vineyards. Nor does he suffer fools gladly, something that can be an impediment to wooing the wine press.(WK)