Decanted half an hour before dinner for potential sediment after standing it upright for a few days, but the wine was flawlessly clear. As I took a first sniff my expectations went through the roof. The nose was absolutely enchanting: earthy, full of delicate dried flowers and herbs, vaguely gamey, along with the honeyed notes of a maturing wine. First sip felt very basic and acidic: evidently closed down, I thought. Sadly, I was disappointed to find that this really didn’t develop much, if any complexity over the next two hours, and despite the wonderful aromatics and firm, acidic backbone I found it to be a seriously underwhelming bottle of wine for its current price, though several positive CT notes led me to believe otherwise. I am the first to admit I might have been completely wrong in not saving some of this for tomorrow in order to evaluate it again, but there were enough of us at the table to not end up with leftovers. Alas!
Better luck with the next bottle!
I think Lafarge is approachable faster than d’Angerville or de Montille, but still best drunk young or older, not in between.
I’d have bet the ‘07 would be ready, honestly.
I’m gonna keep waiting on this one. Or hope you had an off bottle.
For me, 2007 is quite young yet for a Lafarge, and clos des Chenes takes quite a while to come around, even though this was a 2007. Also, I think many burgs need LOTS of air, so I personally would have double decanted this wine 4 hours before dinner. I would bet if you were able to save some, it would have been far better the following day.
We had a bottle of the 98 CdChenes a few months ago that was closed and reductive 2-3 hours after a decant. It was absolutely beautiful the following day.
Lafarge’s Chenes is the most structured wine from a pretty structured producer (in tastings, he pours it after his Clos du Chateau de Ducs) - I wouldn’t expect the 07 to be ready without a serious decant. I like Lafarge a lot, but these wines require a lot of patience.
I think it’s the opposite; under the new regimes at de Montile and d’Angerville, these are definitely drinking well younger. “New” being relative, of course - we’re talking early to mid 2000s (Guillaume’s first full vintage was 05 if I recall). But since then, Lafarge to me is easily the most structured of the 3.
Thanks everyone for the input. This is how you learn…
Better luck with the next one. All of mine had (all imbibed now) been wide open. This is an an extraordinary volnay when it is on.
I should add that I proceeded as I usually do (in terms of decanting aged wines) given my previous experiences with mature wines, in which I was happy to see them develop in the glass over the course of a meal, and given how… let’s say, fiercely diverse the opinions on the board are regarding that issue, with everything from ‘decanting is rape’ to ‘one must open a bottle from that particular producer and vintage three days before a lunar eclipse and decant into a serpent shaped vessel’. By now this is probably a tiresome issue to bring up again as far as general debate subjects go, but having two 2010s from the same shipment which I was planning on opening for lunch with a friend - an Amiot-Servelle Chambolle 1er and a Bernard Moreau Cardeuse - I am now wondering, and taking suggestions, of whether I should instead show up for lunch, aerate them and consume them at dinner… Different vintage (with a reputation for being open and giving) and different producers.
I don’t think you need extended aeration on those wines. I’m a little surprised the 07 chenes wasn’t open; I’ve drank multiple grand cru from that vintage recently and they’ve been fantastic. That said, you just never know.
There’s plenty of 2007 grand crus I’d expect to be more open than Lafarge’s Chenes. It’s a particularly structured plot of a structured cru of a structured producer.
More than Clos de corton or drouhin bonnes mares, and grands echezeaux? 07 LT and RSV and Rousseau CSJ were great too although you’d expect it from the latter.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and every bottle’s different as we know. I’d think even a “closed” wine would offer more than just acid and blandness, so maybe this was just a dud rather than shut down.
Or mild tca
Lafarge is one of those producers where I would start sampling from the bottom-up, even in a vintage in '07. If the village and vendanges are good to go – which they likely are in '07 – then start with the Mitans and go up.
I would also avoid Chenes in its middle years, as mentioned.
Yes. It’s a massively structured wine. I’ve opened a couple of 98 Clos de Chenes and they’re still bruisers (the last one was slightly corked, but the tannins are there despite a decant). I know it’s a 1er cru, but I don’t think that’s at all indicative of how structured that wine is. To me, Lafarge’s Clos de Chenes is the most powerful bottle of Volnay made (more so than d’Angerville Ducs in the old days and certainly more than Lafarge’s Ducs).
I should add that I did not find this particular bottle of this particular vintage of this particular wine to be anything massively structured. In fact I would describe it as fairly medium in structure, and my sensation of being underwhelmed was not from being confronted with an unyielding, unforgiving, chunky wine opened too soon in its lifespan, but from a wine that I felt lacked palate complexity despite lovely aromatics - which, unlike the palate, did develop throughout the time I spent with the wine at the table. My instinct would be to label this particular bottle a dud, and there was a wine critic at the table who felt likewise, but owing to my lack of experience I am ready to concede that my experience was not representative of what Lafarge Clos de Chenes is supposed to be like. Definitely no TCA, by the way: impeccable cork, great nose, no perceivable flaw anywhere across the tasting, except that the wine was not particularly layered or complex.
I’m not sure I’d agree, especially re: grande echezeaux and bonnes mares. In any case I have a few of the 07 Chenes so I’ll try to dig one out.
I haven’t found an 07 that hasn’t really been ready. I’d even open roumier BM.
You know, I think folks are getting a little bit of the wrong impression here. To me a Lafarge Clos des Chenes in a typical year if consumed too early, plus or minus without enough air, still may have a beautiful nose hinting at pleasures to come, but a palate that is hard as nails, and just doesn’t loosen up (at times, sometimes the next day, but sometimes just doesn’t). It’s not really massive in terms of volume, or huge, or thick, and certainly not chunky (the antithesis of Lafarge), but incredibly structured. So your report doesn’t surprise me, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it took far longer to come around than any Cote de Nuits wines.
However, if Don Cornutt is reporting that all of his have been wide open, that gives me pause, and makes me suspect that you did perhaps have an off bottle. I’ve had a number of normally grumpy wines that in 2007 were remarkably friendly and open.