According to CT, these are the largest represented producers of Volnay vineyards (2015 vintage, number represented is bottles in CT)
Domaine Marquis d’Angerville 19.9% Bottles (3,413)
Domaine Michel Lafarge 8.1% Bottles (1,386)
La Pousse d’Or 6.9% Bottles (1,190)
Bouchard Père et Fils 6.1% Bottles (1,041)
Domaine Jean-Marc / Thomas Bouley 4.3% Bottles (729)
Domaine Y. Clerget 4.2% Bottles (715)
Domaine de Montille 4.0% Bottles (683)
Domaine Henri Boillot 3.6% Bottles (611)
Benjamin Leroux 3.2% Bottles (550)
Domaine Joseph Voillot 2.9% Bottles (489)
Nicolas Rossignol 2.6% Bottles (454)
Réyane et Pascal Bouley 2.4% Bottles (414)
How would those who have tasted a lot of these differentiate among these producers? I.e. by style, quality, etc. or other utterly subjective criteria? Or maybe another way of thinking about it, if I was going to build a tasting to represent the variations of Volnay, what would I want to bring to the table?
Focusing on the producers of Volnay is one way to go about it, but if you want to learn about the variations of Volnay I might focus on the vineyards instead.
I would say D’Angerville, Lafarge, and de Montille are the top tier of Volnay producers. I am not sure how to describe any differences in “style,” but can vouch for the fact that all three are top notch, and, IMNSHO, are also among the top producers of burgundy in general. De Montille is a particular favorite of mine, but that is partially due to personal history since de Montille’s wines were my “gateway” producer for burgundy. I also love both D’Angerville and Lafarge wines, and have had the good fortune to meet the Lafarges and found them to be a great bunch of folks.
As for the other producers, my experiences are largely with Nicolas Rossignol, Pousse d’Or, and Bouley. I have had excellent experience with their wines and view those wines as “buys.”
I do not have sufficient experience with the remaining producers to offer an opinion.
Interesting topic, an area I am learning at the moment after great experiences with the case of ‘96 Pousse d’Or 60 Ouvrees.
My focus has been on Angerville, Lafarge, and Montille with minor holdings in JM Bouley, Lafon, Pousse d’Or, Bouchard, Camille Giroud, Vaudoisey, Henri Boillot and Fontaine Gagnard. Targeting Taillepieds, Clos de Chenes, Santenots, and Caillerets. Jasper Morris’s “Inside Burgundy” is a good place to learn, extremely fond of the soft copy version in my iPad.
A lot of solid advice. Only thing I would add is that I have found Voillot’s wines to be gems on a regular basis. Also though, Lafarge and Montille wines generally really take some time in the cellar to really approach peak(I am less knowledgeable about Etienne de Montille’s wines than his dad’s. Like Greg, they were a gateway producer, but the 91s, 95s, and 96s were coiled for a long time.
Watching a video old man De Montille dancing around a restaurant joyful that terrorists had destroyed the World Trade Centers on 9/11, because we deserved it, put me off this producer forever.
The D’Angerville and Pousse d’Or wines are extra beautiful.
That’s quite a big question! And as most of these producers have evolved over the years, it’s open-ended.
Domaine Marquis d’Angerville: pure, satiny, elegant wines with depth and tension; today they are less austere / tight-knit than in the 1990s and before, but they still need time.
Domaine Michel Lafarge: a broader shouldered, wilder / more nobly rustic style, I hesitate to say earthier but certainly typically showing more tertiary notes than young d’Angerville; also, indeed a fortiori, reward long aging
La Pousse d’Or: formerly the poster child for whole cluster in the Côte de Beaune, beautifully floral and supple wines, today more modern and less distinctive
Bouchard Père et Fils: guess this is by virtue of the Cuvée Carnot, which is a well situated parcel of Caillerets. The 2016 and 2017 were pretty good, with Bouchard’s toasty/spicy cooperage signature
Domaine Jean-Marc / Thomas Bouley: a very serious young guy who spends a lot of time in the vines, lots of whole cluster here, and concentration for the vineyards not the cellar - really nice wines
Domaine Y. Clerget: a revived domaine with some very fine holdings and a dynamic young winemaker in Thibaud Clerget who has already attracted a lot of attention. Quite deep, saturated wines with persuasive purity of fruit. Evolving, it seems to me, in the direction of finesse.
Domaine de Montille: formerly austere wines for purists that took a long time to come around but often rewarded it; since the mid-1990s, more modern in style, less forbidding, with more new wood and a purer expression of fruit, though they still need bottle age
Domaine Henri Boillot: quite a gourmand, fleshy expression with a toasty wood signature - reds are getting lots of attention from Guillaume Boillot (a contemporary of the young Clerget) so worth watching
Benjamin Leroux: don’t know these so well
Domaine Joseph Voillot: a very classic style with supple tannins and lovely purity of fruit, they age well and drink well quite young too - somewhat under the radar
Nicolas Rossignol: rich, gourmand and vibrant wines that are very impressive, Rossignol used quite a bit of new wood at the start of his career but now uses hardly any
I am very surprised that Clerget is that high among producers of Volnay in terms of bottles. D’Angerville, Lafarge, Bouchard, Lafon, etc., have been around for many, many years. Even Bouley has been making wine for a number of years now.
Clerget is a very, very old domaine (I think Thibaud is the 20 something’s generation), but he has only been making wine since 2015. For several years before that, wines from the domaine were not available after Thibaud’s father retired and sold grapes to others for several years. Yes, Yvon Clerget wines were sold at very attractive prices for several years from Envoyer, but the wines were good, not great. From what I have seen, it is only with Thibaud taking over the estate that the wines have become first class. And, this is a small estate. It is amazing that they are in sixth place in bottles from Thibaud’s first vintage.
I was surprised by that too, but some ppl must’ve stocked up. Ct isn’t even that up to date bc I haven’t logged most of mind and I put away a lot of 15 versueil. My thought is that since it’s not a super well known domaine perhaps a lot more of the ppl who bought it use CT.
Angerville: still the gold standard imo. Wines are slightly more modern than before but benefit greatly from long aging. Nuanced wines with good power.
de Montille: more modern, I especially like the whites.
Clerget: beautiful wines especially the monopole, endless potential, grace and power.
Rossignol: most power of any of the Volnay producers I’ve seen; could easily be confused with cdn wines blind, nice aromatics.
If I were to put them on a stylistic spectrum, Voillot is the most traditional, H. Boillot the most modern and d’Angerville firmly occupying the center (NB: I’m not familiar with all of these producers).
One producer that was left off that I personally think is doing outstanding work is Louis Boillot. Only a couple of wines in Volnay and isn’t based there, but somewhere around d’Angerville on the spectrum, though a bit more lean.
If you really are planning a tasting make sure to include wines from 2007. I think the village did remarkably well in this supposedly “off” vintage. The wines are drinking well right now. The transparent, more “feminine” nature of the commune shows well in lighter, early drinking vintages like 07. I’ve had a real soft spot for 07 Angerville Taillepieds over the years.
Thanks everyone for the thoughts and input. Clearly I need to drink a few more myself.
What got me interested were some Lucien Boillot Caillerets and d’Angerville 1ers. I was also very impressed by the ‘15s from Clerget at last year’s La Paulee. As a (generalized) characteristic, I’m very attracted to the beautiful floral noses and balanced palates. Plus the prices are more approachable relative to the CdN. I appreciate the thoughts and help on a path forward.