1999 Y. Clerget Volnay Caillerets

[john_stimson]

Hey, I’m used to berserkerdrift. I have the same questions about the under-the-radar producers who seem to have cellars full of older wines–?worth the risk?

I have the 91 and 76 Ampeau volnay-Santenots–still settling after shipping, but will try one in a few weeks.

[Keith_Levenberg]

Again, Ampeau is not some newly discovered under-the-radar producer who couldn’t manage to sell his older wines… they have been well-regarded for years (search some old threads) and, at least until Robert Ampeau’s passing, had a deliberate program of holding back their wines until maturity** - it was possible to get vintages back to the '60s up until a few years ago, and they were always good and often magnificent, even in off-vintages, because the cellars there were notoriously frigid.

** Well, not exactly, sometimes the holding back was just dictated by bottles being buried in an area of the cellar they couldn’t get to, and they’d come on the market when a path was cleared.

[john_stimson]

Nice to known re Ampeau. but the same questions arrise for producers you don’t hear about all the time that become availabe, and that’s why i posted originally on Clerget. Other ones that have popped up this year are offerings of Regis Rossignol, Ch. Noellat, Felletig. I guess each one has to be addressed individually.

[Harry_Gruber]

@Harry Gruber

@Nick Ryan

@Craig Gleason

Which 93 Ampeau?

Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Les Ecusseaux. Just awful.

Interesting, Nick. I just had one of these recently. I decanted the wine and waited about 90 minutes. The nose was still quite tight, and revealed little. It was a decent wine on Day 1, but no great shakes. On Day 2, the nose began to show a little and the wine improved. Still, it was nothing to write home about. I would not, however, call it awful by any means. IIRC, Tom Blach wrote that this wine was a particularly inconsistent performer for him; he had some glorious examples and some really poor bottles. I’m wondering if the Envoyer wines are undergoing some bottle shock from the long journey to the West Coast. I’ve got a couple of these Auxeys left, so I’ll probably wait under 6 months before I try my next bottle. Although the color showed maturity, the bottle I had gave no indication of being over the hill.

Well, I tried another of these (1993 Ampeau Auxet-Duresses Ecusseaux, that is) yesterday and it was glorious! Absolutely beguiling nose, and lovely pure mouthfeel. Excellent balance, with clean red-fruited flavors, and a nice touch of that (for me, indescribable) terroir found in Blagny and Auxey-Duresses. I think it made a big difference that this bottle was able to “rest” for six months after shipping, plus I stood it up for a week before pulling the cork.

[Tom_Blach]

Good to know, Harry. A bottle of this wine ten years ago at Gravetye Manor, a ‘country house’ hotel, remains a memory that will live among my very greatest wine experiences, purest magic.

[Fred_C]

I’ve had the 02 and 01 of this also from Envoyer. Open and drinking nicely, especially for the price. But I’m not particularly in a hurry to buy any more either.