2005 Volnay Premier Cru Tasting and Lunch

A beautiful late spring day and bountiful farmers' market produce provided a most enjoyable backdrop and great ingredients for a lunchtime gathering to assess the current state of 2005 Volnay.

All of the wines in the horizontal portion of the tasting were opened but not decanted 3 to 4 hours before they were served. I selected the wines, but the flights were scrambled and served in brown paper bags so that everyone could taste them blind.

• 2005 Camille Giroud Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Medium ruby. Fragrant aromas, mostly green notes but some red fruit behind them. Elegant, seamless feel. Medium weight, fluid, and well balanced with lovely mixed fruit and a gently earthy, moderately tannic finish. It definitely improved in the glass. More integrated and evolved than many of the wines today. Its high quality was a positive surprise.

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• 2005 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay 1er Cru Santenots-Du-Milieu

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Deep ruby color. Powerful, forward, heady nose with prominent dark berries. Larger scale than the Giroud Taillepieds. Backward black fruit, noticeable oak, excellent acidity, still quite tannic with significant back end grip. This is unready, but it does get a lot better with air.

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• 2005 Louis Jadot Beaune 1er Cru Boucherottes Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru

  A ringer. Medium ruby. Mint and herbs on the nose. Light feel, gentle soil base, high acidity. One of the most austere wines today. Difficult to get any fruit or mouth feel out of this. Not very enjoyable.

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• 2005 Maison Alex Gambal Volnay 1er Cru Santenots Vieilles Vignes

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Dark ruby. Somber black fruit and some brett on the nose. Medium to light weight with a thin veneer of wood. Black fruit and soil, plenty of structure here with grainy tannins and a dusty finish. Complex and very Burgundian, but I don't like its wild edge or its exceedingly dry finish that does not bode well for further development.

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• 2005 La Pousse d'Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d'Or

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Ruby color. Complex aromas of candied fruit and spice. Medium weight with some oak at the base. It really blossoms with caressing feel and sap with more air. Average acidity, perhaps a touch of alcohol shows. Nevertheless, it is invitingly sweet and spicy with dull red fruit and soil and has a lovely, long chocolatey finish. Lacks some precision but a real success anyway.

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• 2005 Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Light ruby. Complex high toned secondary aromas dominated by green notes. Light, pure, lively acidity, light red fruit, chalky, and moderately tannic. Classic and dry with pleasing fluidity and texture to balance the soil and high acidity. Real Volnay weight and style, I thought. Easier to overlook since it is so understated but a winner.

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• 2005 Domaine Henri Boillot Volnay 1er Cru Les Chevrets

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Light to medium ruby. Fragrant combination of ripe fruit, spice, and herbal tones. Ripe black cherry with a bit of citrus, rounder feel in the mouth, ripe tannins. This was the biggest wine of the flight. While not as finely honed or complex as several others, it impressed with its depth and concentration. It needs more time to move beyond its relatively primary phase and certainly has the underlying material to allow it to do so.

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• 2005 Nicolas Potel Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Ruby. Stemmy scents with warm, ripe fruit in the background. More soil comes through over time. At first, rather stern, blockish, simple black fruit, but this loosens up, revealing real sweetness, excellent acidity, and a lovely soil finish. Now is probably not the optimal time, but significant potential.

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• 2005 Domaine Henri Boillot Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Deep ruby. Equally profound aromas-forward black fruit, menthol, and a touch of brett. Sappy and round but not too big. Impressive depth, chocolatey tannins with oak influence. Like the Boillot Chevrets, a rich, rounder style. Like that wine, drinkable now due to the volume of fruit but lacking in complexity which I hope will come with more time in bottle. They both are much larger scaled than typical Volnay, but one can't fault the concentration or quality of the fruit.

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• 2005 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Champans Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Ruby. An unappealing mix of fennel and brett on the nose. Oh my, what a mess with surmaturité (caramel and prune), some oxidation, and a dry, gritty finish. I have clicked it off as a flawed bottle, and I certainly hope that is the case. At any rate, out of balance, grossly disappointing, and clearly the worst wine of the tasting.

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• 2002 Faiveley Volnay 1er Cru Santenots

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Opened 2 hours before serving. Fading red color. Light to medium weight. Lovely red fruit/soil balance with a twist of sour cherry and orange peel. Maturing but very fresh fruit that retains it natural sweetness. Beautiful Volnay weight, and outstanding length. An elegant, tender wine that has performed surprisingly well on most occasions. It was delightful today.

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• 1990 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Opened and double decanted 4 hours before serving. Ruby center, browning edge. Mature aromas with perfume, char, and even a whiff of candied fruit. Great poise, medium body. Wonderful savory/fruit contrast-great underpinning of soil and the red leaning fruit is in great shape, kept fresh by vibrant acidity that is particularly excellent for the vintage. Orange peel and a dusting of spice add to the allure. A fantastic older Burgundy that could probably still go on another 5+ years. Thank you, Mark!

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Thankfully, with the exception of the d'Angerville disaster, all of the 2005 wines were sound, with one or two of the remaining wines having tolerable levels of brett but no other overt flaws. As for maturity, they ranged from being very early in the prime drinking window to needing a good bit more time, but none of the wines were so foreboding that they could not be approached currently. For 2005, that marks real progress! We were fortunate to finish with 2 superb older examples against which to compare the younger vintage. As always, enjoyable and offering many insights into where the wines are and where they might go.