Why it matters
The producer
Founded in Meursault in 1974 by Charles-Henri Génot and Marie Boulanger, Domaine Génot-Boulanger grew into a broad Burgundy estate rather than a single-village operation. François Delaby inherited it in 1998, when the domaine covered 22 hectares and 30 appellations. Aude Lavollée and Guillaume Lavollée began managing the estate in 2008, with Nicolas Ludwig joining as oenologist and technical director.
That sequence is visible in the range. Meursault supplies the address and administrative home, while the bottles carry a much wider set of Burgundy place names. White wines dominate the production, and the red wines provide readings from Volnay, Pommard, Beaune and Corton.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The estate headquarters and tasting room sit at 25 rue de Cîteaux in Meursault, a village in Burgundy's Côte de Beaune. The domaine farms across three Burgundy côtes, so Meursault identifies the home base rather than every bottle's origin. On the label, the appellation name carries the vineyard geography, while the colour and range position indicate whether the wine belongs to the estate's white-led core or its red portfolio.
Beaune Grèves 1er Cru 2020 gives the clearest physical address in the range. Its one hectare comes from the domaine's oldest vines, high in the southern part of the climat just below Clos St. Anne. The parcel sits mid-slope on gravelly soil at the steepest grade. The wine's direct palate attack and mineral length fit that elevated, sharply sloping setting, with the finish carrying mineral detail instead of heavy fruit weight.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The domaine places its greatest labour in the vineyards, then keeps the cuverie intervention light. Organic conversion moved from selected parcels in 2008 to the full estate by the 2018 vintage, placing vineyard management ahead of cellar correction.
For the red wines, grapes are harvested by hand, crushed and pressed without added sulfur, then settled for 24 hours. Most of the lees are retained unless the growing season has been difficult, and new oak is kept to a minimum. Those choices leave the wine's handling clear: manual selection before fermentation, lees retained as part of the élevage, and little new wood competing with the appellation on the label.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range is geographically broad and white-led. White wines account for 80 percent of production, while the red wines include Volnay, Pommard, Beaune and Corton, with 1.5 hectares of vines around Corton. The appellation names therefore organise the selection more strongly than a single estate-wide style.
The red cellar method gives this part of the range a clear shape: hand-harvested grapes, crushing and pressing without added sulfur, 24-hour settling, substantial lees retention and limited new oak. Beaune Grèves 1er Cru 2020 sits at the detailed end of that range, carrying a one-hectare old-vine source, a high mid-slope parcel and a mineral finish. It is a red wine with direct attack, faint middle-palate tannin and a finish that stays lean in feel.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Beaune Grèves 1er Cru 2020 is the right first bottle because it joins the estate's broad appellation approach to one clearly described parcel. It comes from one hectare of the domaine's oldest vines, high in the southern sector of Beaune Grèves just beneath Clos St. Anne, on a steep, gravelly mid-slope. In the glass, it gives a deep, vibrant nose, a fresh direct palate, faint tannin and mineral length. The bottle offers a complete path from named vineyard to cellar handling to finish.