I have chronic sinus issues which can affect the panoply of features I get, or don’t get, from wines, although I think I remain a sort of serviceable, yet not stellar taster. A few of us decided to try a few Volnays the other night, and I had thought that I had ditched a two week Costa Rican cold just in time. However, in prepping my wines I found that I really couldn’t smell a whole hell of a lot. So take these notes with a grain of salt. I think I noted more textures than fruit components and subtleties on this particular night.
2004 Fevre Chablis Grand Cru ‘Preuses’–Pristine color, smells (this may be a figure of speech noting the above) like white burg. Palate has a fair amount of ripe apple. Blind not sure I could have said Chablis. I thought it might be somewhat advanced, but despite the ripe apple, the consensus of the group was that it was not advanced, just 15 years old and affected by vintage and producer.
2004 Raveneau Chablis ‘Butteaux’–Fairly dark yellow, somewhat reticent nose. Well structured, fairly rich wine with good Chablis structure, but seems to be a bit more aged than I would have expected. Still a pleasure, but I wonder if a different bottle would have been fresher.
2015 Voillot Volnay ‘Champans’–Really open and pleasant wine despite it’s youth, dark red and black fruits, nice rich mouth feel, tannins well controlled and restrained. Surprisingly enjoyable, but those in the group familiar with Voillot still felt best at 15-20 years of age.
2006 d’Angerville Volnay ‘Clos des Ducs’–Pleasant sort of non-descript wine with decent depth, dark fruit, but lacking distinction and structure. Not really identifiable as Volnay and bit bit boring, if such a thing is possible for Ducs. Maybe time will help, but I’m not so hopeful.
2002 d’Angerville Volnay ‘Champans’–fresh, charming, cheerful wine playing mostly in the high notes of red cherries. Very enjoyable but also typical 2002 for me, lacking in the the base and treble notes, for instance present in the subsequent 1999.
1999 d’Angerville Volnay ‘Champans’–Deep, dark fruit nose, immediately more complexity and depth evident in comparison with the 2002. Layers of fruit, tannin, slight spice on the palate, some up front but some still partially hidden. A wine to savor for a while and one that should continue to evolve and improve with time. Love 1999, esp in CdB.
1996 de Montille Volnay ‘Taillepieds’–somewhat of a grumpy bastard of a wine, with plenty of dusty tannin and acid, but on the other hand a purity of flavors and fruit. Much like every other de Montille wine from the old regime that I’ve ever had. Somewhat of a pleasure and pain sort of thing. You get the feeling that in 5-10 years it might be more ready, but they never seem to ever get there.
1996 Lafarge Volnay 'Clos des Chenes–Much more lush, yet pure, wine, nicely structured, nicely fruited, not quite yet fully mature. Not really identifiable as a '96. Doesn’t quite blow you away like some Lafarge can, but still quite a nice wine and a pleasure.
Afrin is your friend.
Much the same with the 1990 Montille/Taillepieds … very good, but not really singing and always with a hard edge to it that diminishes pleasure …
I have another bottle as well as a Mitans … in 5 years?
Afrin and prednisone still didn’t do it. Oh, well.
Give a report if you try them in 5 years. I bought them in 93, 95, 96, and only remember one bottle that was remotely ready–a 95 Mitans after 3-4 hours of air. the running joke in our tasting group is that any time anyone mentions an older de Montille, the immediate answer is “not ready yet”.
Too bad
I recently opened a '99 de Montille Pommard Rugiens, and it was fantastic; though, I would say it was just at the beginning of its prime drinking-window.
That sucks.
When was that over, and how have the wines changed since then?
The regime changed somewhere between 1996 and 1999-not sure when, but I understand the wines have become much more approachable. I don’t have any direct experience. Personally, once I get scared away from a producer, I have trouble going back. And around the mid 90’s was when I started to become far more interested in d’Angeville and Lafarge.