Volnay Elegance

A night of exploring Volnay in depth organised by William. Specially prepared dinner menu. Good wines and great company. A lovely night in the making.

An impromptu wine I threw in as a ringer. Most guessed it as old world which I would have as well. I would have guessed a chablis.

• 2002 Pierro Chardonnay Margaret River 83 Points

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

  Sharp focused nose of marmite, some yeast, lemons and a whole lot of grassy minerals which subsequently further revealed cream of mushroom soup and hazelnuts. On the palate, this has razor limey minerality paired with tongue exciting acidity. Beeswax and took on an oily fish oil texture.

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Paired with braised burgundy snail in red wine, button mushroom, mix green, orange balsamic vinaigrette. The votes were roughly split between the two wines.

• 2003 Jean Boillot & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets 81 Points

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

  Started out leafy and stemy. Tobacco leaves, sausages, airy roses and some cigarette ash. Interestingly, I smelt hot margarine too. Relatively sweet with spome ripe black berries. A bit simple but it did open up considerably more during the last few drops so maybe it needed some time. A pity I drank too quickly.

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• 2003 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Les Mitans 83 Points

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

  Definitely volnay-ish with a good floral nose mixed with truffles, soil and a hint of menthol. Pretty ripe black cherries but with a mid to end flavour of chinese medicine and wolfberries. Strong dense tannins that made me think of this to be unburgundian like but probably could be the vintage. Not exactly as feminine as I hoped it to be.

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Paired with french onion soup, swiss cheese gratin. The Santenots was corked which gave us no choice but to substitute with the MM volnay. A lopsided battle with the 02 winning hands down.

• 2002 Jean Boillot & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Les Fremiets 89 Points

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

  Beautiful stewed (but not overly) nose of cherries, hawthorne berries, strawberry skins and orange peels with a peppering of cigarette ash and young calf. good bright and active berries and cherries. Quite ripe, some cigarette. Soft , elegant, supple and lovely wine. Realised I had it before and today is even better than I last remembered it to be. It seems to have blossomed into a young confident lady at the moment.

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• 2005 Mischief and Mayhem Volnay Vieilles Vignes 80 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay

  Candy, some light tar notes, and black cherries. All in all, very muted nose. Dense packed cherries and berry skins. Simple and straightforward. Singular in expression yet thick on the tannins...almost chewy. After realising what it was, I think we should have decanted it because it really has shut down.

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Paired with pan roasted duck breast, mesculun salas, orange balsamic dressing and truffle risotto with proscuitto ham. The burg traditionalists mostly voted the Montille while some of us heretics preferred the Roblet for its weirdness and stinky barnyard leather.

• 2002 Domaine Roblet-Monnot Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 85 Points

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

  My goodness, this really "stinks". Manure,horse, leathery and barnyardish. This even had some chianti like cat's pee and shirazy black pepper. It reminds me more of a bordeaux than a burg but I do love the aromas. This is one weird experience. But on the palate though, this is very much back to burgundy with ripe sappy cherries, cherry skins and quite sharp acidity. Pretty tannic, this is the oddest one out of the whole bunch. However, nose for nose and flavour for flavour , this is quite an interesting wine but it does drop points on terroir reflection.

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• 2002 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 81 Points

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

  Caramelish blue berries, gula melaka and blackforest cake with interesting smells of blue cheese coming to the fore with some time. Feels heated with sweet very ripe cherries and sappy tannins.

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Paired with Angus beef striploin, trufle mash, sweet pea, wild mushroom jus. Most agreed this was the best flight with the elegance and feminity of Volnay displayed. Still not as dainty as it should be, these wines were very much woman. The 02 was voted WOTN by quite a few of us.

• 1996 La Pousse d'Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos des 60 Ouvrées 89 Points

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

  Lovely nose of black tea leaves, stewed cherries and strawberries with just a drop of cat's pee, barnyard and wet mushrooms. Still very much elegant but not as much as when I first tasted it. I am starting to wonder if the 1st bottle I tasted was decanted for a long time because this stil had quite primary sappy cherries without as much evolvement as the very 1st time tasted. However, this is a very balanced and well made wine. Compared to the 2002 Bousse dor , I thought this 96 felt more youthful and primary and definitely needs more time.

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• 2002 La Pousse d'Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d'Or 92 Points

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

  This is drinking so beautifully now! My WOTN . Stewed burgundian nose of strawberries, cherries, hawthone berries and haw flakes. Very elegant with some smoke. Oh my... seamless transition on the palate. Gentle strokes of cherry fruits with enticing sweetness and orange peels on the palate. Has depth and density with tight rope balance. Lovely wine.

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Paired with Vanilla ice cream, Strawberries, Caramelised brown sauce.

• 2005 Cru Champon 80 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers, Loupiac

  Pomelo, guava, and lots of orange floral lifted by white flowers. Sweet but not too sweet yet needs more acidity.

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Most of us agreed that in general the wines tasted didn't shout Volnay at all with only the final flight saving the day. That said, the wines from the other flights were not at all bad and in fact very intriguing. My WOTN was the 2002 bousse dor which William tasted in a previous sitting and noted that the La Pousse D'ors did remarkably well tonight as compared to the last sitting.