Burgundy: Volnay vs Chambolle
Both communes make elegant and charming wines.
The plan was to compare and contrast the differences between two communes.
One person of the group allocated wines in to brackets asking individuals from our group to supply wines to formulate the theme. So rest of us tasted all wines completely blind (except our own).
Notes from my friend.
First Bracket
1999 Herve Sigaut Chambolle Musigny Les Sentiers
Maturing red colour. Attractive red fruits on the nose, reflected on the palate. The fruit and tannins are now fully integrated and the wine is quite delicious to drink. Possibly the best drinking wine on the night because of its maturity.
1999 Pousse D’Or Volnay Les Caillerets Clos du 60 Ouvres
A deeper, more youthful colour than Sigaut. Meaty, dark cherry fruit to smell. Rich, medium bodied, with soft astringent tannins giving very long length.
Second Bracket
2005 Joseph Voillot Volnay Les Fremiets
Bright red. Red fruit and chalkiness on the nose, and not surpisingly therefore similar style tannins to the Volnay above (Posse D’Or). Fruit similar in style to wine 1, but tannins more rustic.
2005 Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle Musigny Les Cras
Very deep colour for Pinot. This was decanted multiple times 4 hours before the event as it was extremely tight. Still fairly tight initially but you could see the depth of fruit coiled up inside the tannins. Fair amount of oak used, but there was plenty fruit to match. Needs at least 5 more years to really open up.
Third Bracket
2001 Leroy Volnay Les Angles
Maturing red colour. Red cherry fruit and rustic tannins. Quite nice wine but over-priced for what it is.
2001 Jadot Chambolle Musigny Les Amoureuses
Lovely perfumed fruit after some coaxing in the glass, together with quite a lot of matching oak in the Jadot style (which made it looked slightly corked initially). Needs a few years for the oak to soften back into the fruit and integrate.
Fourth Bracket
2002 Fourrier Chambolle Musigny Les Gruenchers
Mid red. High toned, lightweight fruit. Tannic palate, not harsh but just seems a bit under-fruited for the structure.
2002 Comtes Lafon Santenots du Milieu
Deep vibrant red. Touch of sweet oak. Sweet red fruit and firm tannins. Very young. Nice.
Fifth Bracket
2005 J F Mugnier Chambolle Musigny
2006 J F Mugnier Chambolle Musigny Les Fuees
Extremely elegant wines. Typical of Mugnier. The Village wine displayed attractive perfumed red cherry fruit and some matching oak. The family resemblance was obvious with the two wines, the 1er Cru showing richer and denser fruit and more oak. Both are still quite youthful.
Almost all wines were 1er cru but I slipped in an extra village Mugnier in the mix to make up the last bracket.
It turned out to be a very interesting exercise.
I thought we would struggle to pick the differences, but overall the Chambolles ending up showing more perfumed fruit and smoother, less rustic tannins than the Vonays.