Tasted in Volnay with Benoît Landanger and Marleen Nicot, 21 April 2023.
Domaine de la Pousse d’Or
8 Rue de la Chapelle
21190 Volnay
Tel: +33 3 80 21 24 03
www.lapoussedor.fr
More reports with Domaine de la Pousse d’Or
A sad post-script to this visit; on the 22nd April, the day after my visit, Patrick Landanger died.
Marleen on 2021:
“Harvesting was 23-29 September – we were quick as there weren’t many grapes – and rare for us, we finished with the whites – but it was tough as we were short of harvesters – ideally we would have used another 25 pickers. We needed 9 for triage instead of the usual 6 – but it was completely necessary. We fought the maladies well I think, organic of course, but sorting was important. The pre-fermentation maceration actually brought no colour in the first couple of days – of course, we were comparing to recent vintages – but still we decided to do longer maceration – we did 10 and in a couple of cases 12 days of cold maceration – we think that worked. It was still a lot of work for not much in the tanks. Due to frost, in the bottom of Chambolle we lost at least 80% – the whites were similar – some other sectors were ‘better’ – i.e Volnay only 60% down, Corton only 50% down – but you can see. So it will be very difficult to allocate the wines – someone who takes 60 bottles will get just 24 – but someone who takes 12 – will they accept 3? Not very easily… Hopefully they will be happy with a proper amount from 2022…”
The wines…
I found a slightly stony character to many of the Côte de Beaune wines in this vintage. Not offputting, just different. Perhaps because of that, I found most of these wines great in parts. Many of the Côte de Nuits wines were simply great for the vintage and worth an extra-special search given their modest availability!
Bottling was a couple of months early – they were all done by December – the whites a little earlier – there were 4 separate bottlings of these 21s, all adapted to the wines themselves…
2021 Santenay 1er Clos Tavannes
A roundness but also fine clarity of red fruit – generous but fresh. Hmm – that has depth and super concentration (for a first wine!) – supple, a little sweet – but growing juicy in the finish too – that’s simply an excellent start to my day!
2021 Volnay 1er Les Caillerets
Broader and with extra freshness – this nose with a fine accent of faint spice too. Mouthfilling, almost incisive – I like the attack and the structure – nothing hard – but vibrantly complex in the finish – perhaps some herb in this complexity too – holding very well – proper Caillerets!
2021 Volnay 1er Caillerets Amphora
Vinified in one lot – most then to barrels and the rest to these amphoras. This done since 2015 but only this wine in 2015.
More open and complex – certainly a more airy style. Much more direct, structural wine – subtly supported by a faint tannin. The faintly herby finish of the last is more obvious here – but always stunning clarity with this wine – the good and the bad! – But I’d take this with pleasure – keep it back a couple of years to tame a little the structure.
2021 Volnay 1er Clos d’Audignac
Named after the owner in the 1800s who planted vines here – François d’Audignac
More modest colour. A more direct red berry note here becoming broader with air. More fluid, supple and generous. Texturally lovely wine – the flavours framed with a small halo of acidity – but in a good way. Acid-red fruit and juicy because of that. Easier than the last today – and delicious too.
2021 Clos de la Bousse d’Or
This needs a little air – starting with a faint reduction – but slowly filling the glass with more purity and more mineral aspects too. More direct but still with the fluidity of the last – extra dimensions in the middle and finishing flavours. That’s a great second half – certainly an excellent wine that I’d carafe for the next couple of years – the complexity is really increasing with air, finishing with an attractive, slightly creamy aftertaste!
2021 Volnay 1er Bousse d’Or Amphora
More airy – this needs time to open in the glass – but as it does so there’s the impressive extra clarity of these amphora wines. Hmm – the most composed – wide and texturally attractive wine so far. Finishing pure, juicy and a little creamy – so the cream note of the last wasn’t from the barrels! Very attractive – I’d keep it 3-4 years before opening but it’s an excellent wine.
2021 Clos de 60 Ouvrées
A more vertical nose – plenty of freshness too – here is good energy. Fuller with more flavour depth and texture than the nose suggested. Full, luxurious mouthfeel – again a hint of the creamy finish here – it’s very attractive. A pretty vibration and width of finishing flavour. Another lovely wine…
There’s only 1/3rd of the normal volume of this…
There’s the faintly herbed impression of the first wines here – it was more subtle in the last – but still with an attractive red fruit perfume. Just beautiful in the mouth – fluid delicate yet still structured and with growing intensity with clarity – such a great wine in the mouth – just a nose short of great today – I think it might be a complete wine in a few years!
2021 Pommard 1er Les Jarolières
More open in the high tones – a little of the herb of the previous wines – but lots of finesse too. Broader – fine clarity – a little structure. Extra middle and finishing depth – a suggestion of cream and good energy. Lovely wine!
2021 Corton Bressandes
Extra breadth to this aroma – finely grained with complexity, almost a hint of coffee. Larger scale for sure – framed with more tannic grain – but a grain that melts – the finish with some wonderful – exciting – intensity. A wine that’s great in parts!
2021 Corton Clos du Roi
Wider – a more airy style, certainly a little more perfumed aroma. Mouth-filling – more volume again – the flavour airy and the texture finer than that of the Bressandes. A juicy style to these finishing flavours. Actually, this finish is one of the most delicious so far – it’s so good. Wait a little longer for coherence in performance – but so many parts are great again!
Côte de Nuits:
Benoit bought this and a house in Gevrey where he currently lives. It’s the team from here that does the work the work in the vines but the grapes are ‘sold’ to Pousse d’Or so it’s technically classed as a negociant wine. There’s also Charmes-Chambertin and Echezeaux – that last parcel not yet officially owned as there are a number of family parties from the owners involved, rather made today under a fermage agreement – all the vines in conversion to organics, and biodynamics.
A very different aromatic – slightly earthy but also with fine, indeed brilliant clarity of fruit – that’s super. Presence and fine shape and purity in the mouth – that’s so melting and juicy – it’s simply beautiful wine – bravo!
Pousse bought the Chambolle domaine vines ‘from the harvest 2008’ but were not happy with the work leading up to the harvest and the resulting maturity of the grapes – so sold everything in grapes to the négoce. Their first actual (commercialised) vintage being 2009 – organic from the start at the domaine, biodynamic since 2015. Certified since 2018 for the whole estate…
2021 Chambolle-Musigny
A blend of 7 villages and two 1er cru parcels… Chabiots and Borniques the latter
Like the Volnays there’s a fine aromatic width but also accented with a stony, herby note. It’s lovely in the mouth with fine volume – lovely energy – the tannin slightly more visible than for the Perrières. Stony and creamy in the finish but with super depth of flavour. Lovely wine…
No Chambolle-Musigny 1er Feuselottes
2021 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Groseilles
Again a stony character to these aromatics – plenty of fresh red fruit in support. Supple – more ease and comfort to this texture – another with a certain creaminess – deliciously finishing.
2021 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Width and a little more depth to this stony red fruit. Mouth-filling – fine shape here and tons of transparency to this pretty red fruit – the stony character of most of the other wines – but gorgeously flavoured from the middle into the finish…
2021 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Amoureuses
More aromatic, finer and wider – the stony aspect of the other wines not visible here. Beautifully shaped in the mouth, framed with a very fine, ripe tannin – there’s no dryness here. A succession of finishing waves of flavour – not powerful but enduring. That’s a really beautiful wine.
2021 Bonnes-Mares
Vines on the Chambolle side.
A broader freshness – more direct – a return to the more stony (wet stone) style of aromatic. Large in the mouth – impressively shaped – there’s beautiful clarity to the red fruit flavour too – but it’s the shape of this then the growing depth of flavour and energy as it heads to the finish – that sets this wine apart. Structural as Bonnes-Mares should be – but not a bit brutal! Super wine.
Only one barrel in this first vintage. In Pouillardières, bordering the vines of DRC, just 0.11 ha of vines planted in 1951…
The first wine starting with a faint reduction – it lifts – the aromas remain pungent but with extra high-toned complexity, even a suggestion of mint-leaf. Ooh, this is lovely in the mouth – some much more mouth-watering complexity – fabulous – but keep it a while as there’s a modest austerity today – but what a wine! 2 years and all will be in place.
2021 Charmes-Chamberin
From Mazoyères – opposite Latricières – the largest part of this was replanted in 1997 but there remains a part (of this 0.25 ha) that was planted in 1957.
A nice width of aroma that recalls the shape of the Echézeaux but the fineness of the complexity is different and the fruit more red. A little more direct, faintly reductive and silkier in style than the Echézeaux. This more direct style showcasing the finishing intensity more – the last had a width of finishing flavour. Long, fading and so very different to the last. Super!
Hmm – wide like the Charmes-Chambertin but with clarity of both fruit and perfume in the high tones – not a large-scale nose but still an absorbing, great one! After the previous two wines – we have an almost seamless combination of the two; volume and direction – and this case a more fluid purity of flavour. Not a GC of power but a great GC – bravo!
And to finish, les blancs:
2021 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets
Really high-toned fruits here – complex too. Hmm – that sits beautifully in the mouth – direct but with obvious tension and a juicy finish – perhaps a little easy for Caillerets? But absolutely delicious at the same time…
Only one normal sized (228-litre) barrel this vintage – normally they have a couple of 300-litrre barrels.
Hmm – but that’s a beautifully composed width of aroma – very self-assured and inviting. More mouth-filling, more vibrant, growing more intense – this is not an easy-drinking Chevalier – this is proper Chevalier with depth and concentration but also with the direction and impressive qualities I look for – it anything there’s a small suggestion of ‘generous’ here – but not enough to disturb. That’s a great wine and with a such a breadth of attractive, long-lasting, finishing flavour. Bravo!