1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (11/1/2009)
Opened 3 hours in advance, served at 15C. I’ve had almost exclusively good experiences with this wine, although others have reported a series of corked bottles. My last bottle had a slight taint of cork and I was a bit concerned about what I would find tonight, particularly on seeing and smelling the cork on opening (cork stained almost to top and a faint whiff of mildew). All that being said, this wine was simply awesome tonight - everything good Pinot Noir can be. Huge nose of cherries, roses, caramel, and the faintest whiff of tar. On the palate there’s a silky explosion of cherries, with a fine spine of acid and sweetness that completely envelope the tongue and palate and wrench a reverberating final for a good minute. Fantastic lift - the acid just layed up this bed of roses and cherries and held it there for study and enjoyment. This was really firing on all cylinders tonight - powerful, taut, and elegant. Like being beaten by a rose. (95 pts.)
Don’t have notes, but my recollection from earlier this year is that the '93 is clearly more evolved and silky; the '96 more brawny and youthful. Flavor profiles were not remarkably different. The wines just seemed to be on a different trajectory.
I’ve gone through a case of this wine, as well has have had a number at restaurants. The first few I had were quite good (though perhaps not 95 points good, although that is obviously in the eye of the beholder). But since that time I’ve had my fair share, and then some, of corked bottles. When it’s on, it’s very good. A few have been slightly corked. One or two noticeably so. One was the single worst example of corked wine I’ve ever smelled. I have another case slumbering away in long term storage. I hope it is full of the former sorts of bottles and not the latter.
Yes - basically this wine seems to be either very good or very bad. As I said - my experiences have been virtually all positive - looking back on my notes I’ve scored this typically 88-92 with one score of 94 before the 95 I gave above (FWIW I tend to score slightly lower than most CT notes).
I’ve no clue what’s up with the bad bottles, but it sure sounds like a provenance thing. Maybe they were part of a cargo plane that diverted to Jamaica on their transatlantic journey where the pilots and crew tucked into 2 weeks of Bob Marley induced R&R while the wine sat sweltering in the cargo hold…
Funny you should mention this, as my notes from this wine about 1 year ago suggest that one element on the bouquet was marijuana! I’ve read other notes that say the same thing, too. I think you are onto something.
I forgot to mention that I got my 4 bottles on Saturday is absolutely perfect condition. I’ll probably crack one sometime this weekend and check it out.
Phillip, It boggles my mind where this stuff keeps coming from, but I had a bottle a few years ago and saw it back on the shelf in NJ just a few months back. I very much enjoyed it but there’s a lot of talk of TCA. 1 of 3 among my limited circle. Hope you have better luck.
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