1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (11/19/2011)
Audozed for 3 hours. One sniff tells you this wine is very much alive, expressive with earth and red fruit, primary even. Nice ruby color, no bricking. The palate follows through solidly with bright and pure red cherry, earth, subtle mushroom, with a saline tone bringing interest and comment around the table. Good length. Some iron shows up on the finish, not good or bad, not distracting, just there. Enormous purity with nary a hint of anything remotely associated with oak, integrity is dripping from this bottle. Very very smooth and there just isn’t an edge or slight mis-step to comment on. Solid, stalwart, steadfast, a working man’s burg. Nothing flashy but there sure is a lot to love and a great match with anything you put on your plate. (93 pts.)
If I recall correctly, this producer often does not release his wines until he believes they have reached some level of maturity. I remember acquiring a bunch of 1989 Volany Santenots about 10 years after they were released and they were great: transparent, pure examples of their site of origin. The greatest challenge seems to be getting hold of them in the first place.
Almost right. There are no immediate releases period. The youngest I’ve seen right now are 1996 reds and 1995 whites. I’ve never seen a wine released sooner than 12 years after the vintage.
I picked up some 1976 Ampeau Volnay-Santenots earlier this year from and yes, the labels were totally fresh. Was told it was maybe released about a year and a half prior only. Ampeau’s cellar is notoriously cold, and he has a tendency to hold onto the wines until he feels they are “ready”
Have not had any of the Ampeau reds but I find the whites worth the admission price. I wonder how many other wineries hold onto wines like Ampeau? I know that Lopez de Heredia in Rioja holds their reds and whites for quite sometime and I remember the “old days” when Dr. Konstantin Frank held onto his reds until they were ready. These days I think it would be difficult to start a winery and watch your product sit for several years before release.
76 Volnay has been released well over 10 years now, I’m not really suprised they still are offering it, haven’t had it in a long time, any notes. I’ve always preferred the 78 should you find any. I fondly remember the 84 Blagny rouge was probably $20 retail around 2001, AMAZING wine for the $, not that I’ve had many 84’s but did anyone else make good wine?
The 90 is interesting to me as they are very vintage driven wines, I’m curious in how it manifests itself as the vintages at Ampeau can be quite different than their neighbors (don’t ask me why).
Count me as a huge fan of Ampeau, especially their brilliant Meursault Perrieres.
Thanks for the info guys, I didn’t know any of that. The purchase was a direct import from the Domaine through WineAccess, my fourth purchase from them over 4 years of emails, it seemed like one to take a flier on. I hadn’t looked into the producer any further, but am now curious. Not bad for my second burg.
I think the main point is that there are indeed no “immediate releases”. Beyond that, there is hardly anything that smacks of a “system” there…sort of a loosely conceived business plan to release wines way beyond the time everyone else does. The one thing that’s fairly rigid there is the requirement that one buy two bottles of red wine for each bottle of white, largely reflecting their holdings: both in proportion and in the sense that the whites are relatively more esteemed holdings than the reds are…and consequently are more in demand.
A fun place to visit, though impossible to taste their effectively, as the cellars and, therefore, the wines, are near refrigerator temps…and some great wines, both red and white.
In my experience there are no good 84 reds apart from Ampeau’s. I remember someone who used to import them speculating that the contents may not be as purely 84 as one might think!