Medium-plus colour. Deep, dark fruit with floral top notes and a hint of mineral – limited width but great top to bottom dimension. Full, rounded and quite sensuous; not too sweet and there is good buffering acidity. Dark fruit tones and a velvet tannin that you have to search for. Long lasting on a mineral note. More challenging than the Bouchard ‘baby Jesus’ today and a better wine for it – the future can look after itself. Super wine and something of a bargain.
Volnay Santenots
1979 Ampeau Robert Volnay Santenots
I don’t usually decant older wines, but my ham-fisted attempt to remove the cork ensured that plenty of pieces dropped into the bottle – so I filtered through an unscented tissue into a decanter. The aromas were soil, soil and more soil – perhaps damp soil too – I initially thought brett but it blew off, so probably wasn’t. Given 20 minutes a very nice, almost creamy red fruit started to show itself – given one hour, this was very pretty indeed. The palate transformed a little less; always silky and with just a little fat for weight, the acidity was the only thing that seemed to change – moving from a little spiky to nicely smooth with aeration. Was a lovely wine, not too robust or rustic – a nice birthday vintage bottle for one of our (younger!) group.
2008 Belland Roger Volnay Santenots
2008 Belland Roger Volnay Santenots
2008 Buisson-Charles Volnay Santenots
No hail here but only 20 hl/ha but vinified ‘without compromise’ with 100% of the stems. The aromas have more complexity than the Pommard, if less richness. Plenty of fine tannin. The flavour insinuates itself and becomes very long finishing. There is no extraneous padding here but no hard edges either. This is a buy.
2008 Roche de Bellene Volnay Santenots
2008 Prieur Jacques Volnay Santenots
2007 Potel Nicolas Volnay Santenots
2006 Pavillon Volnay Santenots
Hmmm – interesting wine. On the first sniff there was a hint of unwelcome aldehyde, on the second it was already transformed to flower petals. Slowly the aromas took on density if not so much depth. The flavour reminded me very-much of recently drunk Santenots – but on checking I was surprised to see that my last two were both from 2005, not 2006. There is width, a smattering of faintly astringent tannin and then a lovely extra dimension of creamy red fruit in the mid-palate. Just ripe enough and nicely plump yet almost good enough acidity. This is a very lovely glass and though perhaps missing a comparative hint of intensity, can stand next a decent bottle from 2005. Based on the price I paid, and by recent standards this is a super value bottle.