What a wine; 3 days, three different results. Drunk over three nights, whilst over-nighting in the refigerator.
1997 Michel Lafarge, Volnay 1er Cru
Day 1. Medium rusty-red colour. Despite a certain 1997 ripeness to the fruit aromas, there is something of a cool edge and plenty of herbal notes – overall it’s ruff and gruff – not a lacy picture of Volnay. The leading edge is the acidity, though behind it the tannin is quite fine. The first flavours have a slight oxidised impression, but the best part of the wine is its extra dimension of very nice mid-palate flavour. Overall this wine lacks a lot of charm, and some aspects give me concern for further cellaring – still, this was my last.
Rebuy – No
Day 2. Same room, same time of day – looks less rust coloured (!?) The aromatics have really cleaned up, it’s still slightly austere but a little less herbal. More balance, and that slight oxidised flavour is gone, the fruit has an altogether younger and darker impression – I would even go as far as to say appeal! Whilst still not charming, I would say this is an altogether more ‘correct’ performance – one that indicates the vigour of youth rather than the previous day’s pallor of age…
Rebuy – Yes
Day 3. Like day 2, but more diffuse. Today the austerity coupled to the loose performance would give it the thumbs down. Interesting that the day 1 problem seemed to be something volatile in the wine – once it was gone, things really came together.
Rebuy – No
There is one response to “michel lafarge 1997 volnay 1er”
Hi Bill!
Interesting post on Lafarge.
I wonder if you have any experience with older bottles?
I have tasted from barrel and a few younger wines (Volnay vv 00-02) and these wines hav been very unrewarding; harsh tannins and quite unbalanced, but lovely on the nose.
Are the Lafarge wines only built for the very long run?
BR,
David
Hi David,
Everybody tells me that the wines are built to, and do, age. I’ve never been further back than ’93 so will have to stick with received wisdom – hopefully not from the same people that tell us that wines should be drunk by the time they are are 5 or 6 years old 😉
I’ve always found the wines to have a decent lick of acidity – and I’m far from acid-shy…
Cheers