An evening with George (Bistro Cocotte, Haberfield): Inky, black hued fruits, savoury spice, a little earth, touch of leather and Autumn leaves with time. Medium plus intensity acidity, black hued fruits, concentrated, dense, plenty of textured grip, long, lovely but, with time (a couple of hours) it beings to start to fade.
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Surprisingly fresh and lovely. Nose of strawberries, cut flowers, and a little earthiness after a couple of hours. Light weight palate but more red fruited goodness, some secondary minerality and good length. Well balanced and a fine accompaniment to roast pork. Not the last word in complexity or depth but very pretty, well balanced and highly enjoyable with dinner. Bravo.
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Not the most complex older red burg, but still going strong. Held it's own in a great lineup of champs, aged white burgs, and aged rhones. Had nice spices, good florality and just a touch of rusticity.
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Burgundy Dinner with Friends (Andros Taverna): Slightly floral, more earthy, with enough lingering red cherry and berry. While I expected more from top notch Volnay 1999 1er Cru (best Volnay vintage in a 20 year span?), it is charming and harmonious.
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Not ready yet. The red fruits are still youthful, with wood notes and fine tannin quite evident. Nice silk, but I'll hold my remaining bottle until 2020+.
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It has been too long since a Burg hit the spot like this one did tonight. I opened it an hour before dinner and was drinking well from the get go, but really started to shine 3-4 hours after I first opened it. Sweet berries on the nose. A very juicy palate - impressive concentration and even better freshness. Ripe pomegranate and cherries upfront with a lot of earthiness and red beet juice on the back end, which perfectly balances the wine and gives real nice complexity. Impossible to put the glass down. it is in its prime drinking window now, but no hurry.
Popped and poured at room temperature. This was a very nice start to the dinner, with a balanced combination of dark cherry fruit and dusty earth. No hurry, but in a very good spot now. A-
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Some bottle variation and under different conditions for 3 bottles tasted recently leaves me with a mixed note for future reference. This has varied between the more sweet and supple style to a more classic fragrant and yet earthy and dusty style. Both were good, so no complaints, just harder for me to give a concrete note as I will need to try another bottle and spend some time with it. A-
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Still deep, as was the case with a bottle almost 2 years ago. Now beautifully fragrant with small red fruits, flowers and mint. This tries hard to be delicate and for the most part, it is, save for a remaining bit of chocolatey oak. Wonderful flavors of tart cherry, smoke and anise with excellent acidity to buttress the fruit. Despite its concessions to the house style, this is an outstanding Volnay that is now seemingly at peak. More than anything, unmistakably Burgundy.
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Violet color. Lovely nose of sour cherry, mushrooms and earth. Some menthol and good acidity on the palate. Good but left me wishing for more refinement and less wood.
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Double decanted, then decanted for service. Earthy and meaty nose, rich dark fruit on the palate, w forest notes developing over time. Good showing, but much fatter and not as pure as the Jadot Clos de la Barre. Drunk with various dishes at Fleur, Las Vegas.
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Unusually dark and unevolved appearance. Blackberry and pine needles on the nose. Some secondary perfume toward the end of the bottle. Just a degree weightier than the Platonic ideal of Volnay due to some very discrete wood-closer to the Pousse d'Or than the Angerville end of the textural spectrum. Powerful acids play off increasingly coffee-like tones. This was a marvelous bottle just at the cusp of maturity and with plenty of room for improvement. A great success for this domain, whose vinification of Volnay can be pretty heavy handed.
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This is terrific. Colour is medium-dark red and straight out of the bottle it has an aromatic bouquet of cherries and red fruit. On the medium weight palate there are powerful, intense and complex red and dark fruit flavours combined with spice and earth and the finish is elegant, rich, silky smooth and long. Beautifully complete and harmonious. I had this alongside a Marquis d'Angerville Fremiets from the same year and that was a wine that was more lean in character, but which possibly had a greater sense of terroir; this is voluptuous and instantly more easy going. A real crowd pleaser. Excellent wine now at its peak. Estimated maturity: 2010-2015
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Lunch at Quay (Quay Restaurant, Sydney): From a 375ml - I expected a good wine, but this really surprised me at how good it was. It was at a beautiful place after a quick, splashy decanting. Classic Volnay on the nose - truffles galore, hints of wood spice, black cherries, prunes, lots of dark flowers - violets maybe - and then just the most nicely integrated oak. Incredibly attractive stuff. The palate had just about perfectly opened up as well, with dark cherry and prune flavours showing a beautiful depth and breadth paired to lovely focus and nice freshness. Past the mid-palate, the wine picked up a savoury earthiness, a touch of wood spice and more dark floral notes, scents reminiscent of walking through the woods on a summer day. A little bit of oak peaks out right at the very finish. This was lovely, and just about a perfect pairing with the incredible pork jowl and prune dish that we had. A brilliant foil to a brilliant meal.
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Outstanding! Deep color for Volnay suggesting a heavy hand. Gorgeous nose: ripe cherry juice, orange peel and baking spice. Full, rich, dense and long. This is big burgundy that saw a good bit of oak. That said, the balance and harmony is very nice. Should drink well for the next 10 years. Thanks Chuck! (93+)
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DCWineDinners' (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcwinedinners/) Pinot Noir Dinner at Dino (Dino Restaurant, Washington, DC): Gooseberry and blackberry nose with a touch of the good chicken coop - this is my style of Pinot for sure and I was confident about it being a Burgh while others assumed its size meant New World. Cherries in the mouth, but also some dirt and nutmeg and a tiny bit of dried mint in the nice, long finish, which really dries this out to balance the generous fruit on the mid-palate. By far the consensus WOTN, and definitely my Pinot of the year so far.
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Last bottle. Double decanted in am, and aerated using Vinturi Aerator. Excellent bouquet still tart cherry flavor, balanced light slightly aicidic, which I preferred, and Ellen didn't.
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Initially the nose had a funky quality making me think it was corked. I put the wine on the side and took care of some domestic duties. After an hour of air the wine fell into line. The fruit on the palate was ripe, rich and taught. The nose was dominated by ripe, black cherries, gun-flint with just a hint of a high-toned floral note. The palate continued to improve and took the nose up a notch. It showed what the '99 Volany's are known for - deep, sappy, round but proportioned and balanced black cherry fruit. The key here is that the fruit is at, in my opinion, the perfect level of ripeness. More ripe would be blousy. Less tart. This is the genius of French Pinot ... I guess you would call it tension. The finish is long and the overall impression in the mouth is that of a big, elegant, youthful wine. I found the wine to be incredibly primary and felt guilty about opening it. This wine is going to last much longer than I would have ever thought and this showing was just a tad more evolved than the prior bottles.
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Decanted for 3-1/2 hrs. Good food wine. Paired perfectly with Musroom Omelet. Good bouquet, tart cherry flavors. Quaffable and not heavy at all. we consumed the entire bottle in one sitting.
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Produced from 20-year-old vines. Medium ruby. Nose of red fruits, cherries, and raspberries. Medium weight, bags of fruit, red and black cherry as well as blackberry. Very fresh and juicy. Well-focused, elegant, refined and balanced. A very nice wine indeed, but 'international' in style. Not exactly terroir-driven. Fully ready. Estimated maturity: 2008-2012+
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This wine has improved since the last time I had it about a year ago and is drinking very well. It has developed aromatically as well and the open nose offers scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, yeast and rose. The fruit on the palate is sappy and dense which is something I like about the '99 reds. The fruit is carried by fresh acidity and the balance here is great. This wine has a lot ahead of it. It should improve on its balace for some time.
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JADE Dinner Party: Double decanted in am. Joyce & Cindy obviously liked it(after the Fevre Chablis, which they didn't appreciate!) as they poured themselves a lot. Very good Burg which still has some development ahead of it, seemed heavier than my last experience.
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Double decanted in am. Let breathe in open bottle for 1-1/2 hours. Very good, but pairing wasn't smart, Tune w wasabi, overwhelmed hte wine. Restrained, delicate Pinot, but did'nt stand up to the wasabi.
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This has developed nicely in the 2 yrs since I last tried it. Still a deep bright ruby all the way to the rim; red fruit aromas with a subtle hint of earth and oak in the background; med-bodied, very ripe and round, no rough edges; shows lots of fruit, minerality, excellent structure and balance, with a real midpalate intensity or "juicey-ness." Delicious.
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At River Oyster Bar, Miami (met Leon&Jessica). Appropriately Gregoire from Normandy served us. Decanted 1 hr. Close to its prime now, elegant sour cherry bouquet moderate to light bod, brief finish, but a delightful Volnay for consumption over next 2 to 3 years.
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10/26/2023 - Sach01 wrote:
6 months from turning!
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7/26/2023 - chatters wrote:
An evening with George (Bistro Cocotte, Haberfield): Inky, black hued fruits, savoury spice, a little earth, touch of leather and Autumn leaves with time. Medium plus intensity acidity, black hued fruits, concentrated, dense, plenty of textured grip, long, lovely but, with time (a couple of hours) it beings to start to fade.
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11/1/2022 - Richard P Howden Likes this wine: 93 Points
Surprisingly fresh and lovely. Nose of strawberries, cut flowers, and a little earthiness after a couple of hours. Light weight palate but more red fruited goodness, some secondary minerality and good length. Well balanced and a fine accompaniment to roast pork. Not the last word in complexity or depth but very pretty, well balanced and highly enjoyable with dinner. Bravo.
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10/20/2021 - Redguy wrote:
Absolutely lovely! The last of my 3 and a near perfect bottle of this wine.
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6/25/2021 - Jd6725 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Not the most complex older red burg, but still going strong. Held it's own in a great lineup of champs, aged white burgs, and aged rhones. Had nice spices, good florality and just a touch of rusticity.
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5/15/2021 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Burgundy Dinner with Friends (Andros Taverna): Slightly floral, more earthy, with enough lingering red cherry and berry. While I expected more from top notch Volnay 1999 1er Cru (best Volnay vintage in a 20 year span?), it is charming and harmonious.
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5/12/2017 - Bakerbd Likes this wine: 93 Points
Effusive floral nose, middleweight red fruits, sous bois, silky tannins, drinking well
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1/23/2017 - Redguy wrote:
Not ready yet. The red fruits are still youthful, with wood notes and fine tannin quite evident. Nice silk, but I'll hold my remaining bottle until 2020+.
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2/27/2015 - pifcho Likes this wine: 94 Points
It has been too long since a Burg hit the spot like this one did tonight. I opened it an hour before dinner and was drinking well from the get go, but really started to shine 3-4 hours after I first opened it. Sweet berries on the nose. A very juicy palate - impressive concentration and even better freshness. Ripe pomegranate and cherries upfront with a lot of earthiness and red beet juice on the back end, which perfectly balances the wine and gives real nice complexity. Impossible to put the glass down. it is in its prime drinking window now, but no hurry.
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4/12/2014 - MC wrote:
Popped and poured at room temperature. This was a very nice start to the dinner, with a balanced combination of dark cherry fruit and dusty earth. No hurry, but in a very good spot now. A-
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1/18/2014 - MC wrote:
Some bottle variation and under different conditions for 3 bottles tasted recently leaves me with a mixed note for future reference. This has varied between the more sweet and supple style to a more classic fragrant and yet earthy and dusty style. Both were good, so no complaints, just harder for me to give a concrete note as I will need to try another bottle and spend some time with it. A-
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8/23/2013 - drwine2001 wrote:
Still deep, as was the case with a bottle almost 2 years ago. Now beautifully fragrant with small red fruits, flowers and mint. This tries hard to be delicate and for the most part, it is, save for a remaining bit of chocolatey oak. Wonderful flavors of tart cherry, smoke and anise with excellent acidity to buttress the fruit. Despite its concessions to the house style, this is an outstanding Volnay that is now seemingly at peak. More than anything, unmistakably Burgundy.
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5/25/2013 - Mistress of Wine Likes this wine:
Violet color. Lovely nose of sour cherry, mushrooms and earth. Some menthol and good acidity on the palate. Good but left me wishing for more refinement and less wood.
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5/4/2012 - sbfoote wrote: 90 Points
Double decanted, then decanted for service. Earthy and meaty nose, rich dark fruit on the palate, w forest notes developing over time. Good showing, but much fatter and not as pure as the Jadot Clos de la Barre. Drunk with various dishes at Fleur, Las Vegas.
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12/26/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Unusually dark and unevolved appearance. Blackberry and pine needles on the nose. Some secondary perfume toward the end of the bottle. Just a degree weightier than the Platonic ideal of Volnay due to some very discrete wood-closer to the Pousse d'Or than the Angerville end of the textural spectrum. Powerful acids play off increasingly coffee-like tones. This was a marvelous bottle just at the cusp of maturity and with plenty of room for improvement. A great success for this domain, whose vinification of Volnay can be pretty heavy handed.
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11/21/2011 - nskelsey wrote: 92 Points
This is terrific. Colour is medium-dark red and straight out of the bottle it has an aromatic bouquet of cherries and red fruit. On the medium weight palate there are powerful, intense and complex red and dark fruit flavours combined with spice and earth and the finish is elegant, rich, silky smooth and long. Beautifully complete and harmonious. I had this alongside a Marquis d'Angerville Fremiets from the same year and that was a wine that was more lean in character, but which possibly had a greater sense of terroir; this is voluptuous and instantly more easy going. A real crowd pleaser. Excellent wine now at its peak. Estimated maturity: 2010-2015
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4/27/2011 - Paul S wrote: 93 Points
Lunch at Quay (Quay Restaurant, Sydney): From a 375ml - I expected a good wine, but this really surprised me at how good it was. It was at a beautiful place after a quick, splashy decanting. Classic Volnay on the nose - truffles galore, hints of wood spice, black cherries, prunes, lots of dark flowers - violets maybe - and then just the most nicely integrated oak. Incredibly attractive stuff. The palate had just about perfectly opened up as well, with dark cherry and prune flavours showing a beautiful depth and breadth paired to lovely focus and nice freshness. Past the mid-palate, the wine picked up a savoury earthiness, a touch of wood spice and more dark floral notes, scents reminiscent of walking through the woods on a summer day. A little bit of oak peaks out right at the very finish. This was lovely, and just about a perfect pairing with the incredible pork jowl and prune dish that we had. A brilliant foil to a brilliant meal.
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10/29/2010 - ctjared wrote:
Very balanced with a nice long finish. Solid.
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10/11/2010 - kenthargis wrote: 90 Points
Richer than many of the burgundies we drink. Still very lively, with luscious fruit. Still prefer Sonoma Coast pinots though.
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6/26/2010 - dbkitc wrote: 93 Points
Outstanding! Deep color for Volnay suggesting a heavy hand. Gorgeous nose: ripe cherry juice, orange peel and baking spice. Full, rich, dense and long. This is big burgundy that saw a good bit of oak. That said, the balance and harmony is very nice. Should drink well for the next 10 years. Thanks Chuck! (93+)
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6/7/2010 - ianinvirginia wrote: 94 Points
DCWineDinners' (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcwinedinners/) Pinot Noir Dinner at Dino (Dino Restaurant, Washington, DC): Gooseberry and blackberry nose with a touch of the good chicken coop - this is my style of Pinot for sure and I was confident about it being a Burgh while others assumed its size meant New World. Cherries in the mouth, but also some dirt and nutmeg and a tiny bit of dried mint in the nice, long finish, which really dries this out to balance the generous fruit on the mid-palate. By far the consensus WOTN, and definitely my Pinot of the year so far.
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7/3/2009 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 90 Points
Last bottle. Double decanted in am, and aerated using Vinturi Aerator. Excellent bouquet still tart cherry flavor, balanced light slightly aicidic, which I preferred, and Ellen didn't.
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11/22/2008 - Roberto_1 wrote: 93 Points
Initially the nose had a funky quality making me think it was corked. I put the wine on the side and took care of some domestic duties. After an hour of air the wine fell into line. The fruit on the palate was ripe, rich and taught. The nose was dominated by ripe, black cherries, gun-flint with just a hint of a high-toned floral note. The palate continued to improve and took the nose up a notch. It showed what the '99 Volany's are known for - deep, sappy, round but proportioned and balanced black cherry fruit. The key here is that the fruit is at, in my opinion, the perfect level of ripeness. More ripe would be blousy. Less tart. This is the genius of French Pinot ... I guess you would call it tension. The finish is long and the overall impression in the mouth is that of a big, elegant, youthful wine. I found the wine to be incredibly primary and felt guilty about opening it. This wine is going to last much longer than I would have ever thought and this showing was just a tad more evolved than the prior bottles.
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8/10/2008 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 91 Points
Decanted for 3-1/2 hrs. Good food wine. Paired perfectly with Musroom Omelet. Good bouquet, tart cherry flavors. Quaffable and not heavy at all.
we consumed the entire bottle in one sitting.
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5/28/2008 - nskelsey wrote: 90 Points
Produced from 20-year-old vines. Medium ruby. Nose of red fruits, cherries, and raspberries. Medium weight, bags of fruit, red and black cherry as well as blackberry. Very fresh and juicy. Well-focused, elegant, refined and balanced. A very nice wine indeed, but 'international' in style. Not exactly terroir-driven. Fully ready. Estimated maturity: 2008-2012+
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8/30/2007 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 90 Points
At Indochine. Didn't aerate. might have needed it. Still good, but not outstanding,
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6/16/2007 - Roberto_1 wrote: 93 Points
This wine has improved since the last time I had it about a year ago and is drinking very well. It has developed aromatically as well and the open nose offers scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, yeast and rose. The fruit on the palate is sappy and dense which is something I like about the '99 reds. The fruit is carried by fresh acidity and the balance here is great. This wine has a lot ahead of it. It should improve on its balace for some time.
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3/16/2007 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 90 Points
JADE Dinner Party: Double decanted in am. Joyce & Cindy obviously liked it(after the Fevre Chablis, which they didn't appreciate!) as they poured themselves a lot. Very good Burg which still has some development ahead of it, seemed heavier than my last experience.
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8/25/2006 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 90 Points
Double decanted in am. Let breathe in open bottle for 1-1/2 hours. Very good, but pairing wasn't smart, Tune w wasabi, overwhelmed hte wine. Restrained, delicate Pinot, but did'nt stand up to the wasabi.
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7/25/2006 - Veloman wrote:
This has developed nicely in the 2 yrs since I last tried it. Still a deep bright ruby all the way to the rim; red fruit aromas with a subtle hint of earth and oak in the background; med-bodied, very ripe and round, no rough edges; shows lots of fruit, minerality, excellent structure and balance, with a real midpalate intensity or "juicey-ness." Delicious.
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5/31/2006 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 90 Points
Double decanted in am. With wild King River Salmon. Withfrawm at first, then opened up to reveal a seductive nose. Very good.
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2/11/2006 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 93 Points
At River Oyster Bar, Miami (met Leon&Jessica). Appropriately Gregoire from Normandy served us. Decanted 1 hr. Close to its prime now, elegant sour cherry bouquet moderate to light bod, brief finish, but a delightful Volnay for consumption over next 2 to 3 years.
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