Volnay & Pommard

Every vineyard here is clay and limestone; the Côte is one long east-facing fault slope cut through a stack of near-flat limestones and marls, with a blanket of fallen debris over them. What changes from one climat to the next is how deep that blanket is over the cracked rock, how much clay, stone and iron it holds, and where on the slope it lies.

Take four of ours. Pommard's Rugiens Hauts has about 30 cm of iron-red soil over rock, high on the slope at the Volnay end. Volnay's Clos des Chênes, above the road toward Monthélie, is white and shallow at the top and redder and deeper below. Caillerets, just under it, has about 40 cm of dense red-brown clay with up to 40% stones. Mitans, low on the slope below the village, has a similar depth of dark brown clay with half the stones and little iron. Same rock family, four different wines: firm and dark, structured, perfumed and deep, soft and round.

Thomas Bouley reads the ground in the cellar: a good share of whole bunches on the clay-rich sites (Clos des Chênes, Fremiers, Reversées), and mostly destemmed fruit from the shallower, stonier ones (Caillerets, Rugiens), though the mix moves with the vintage. Tap a pit or a pin to see the wines from it.