Joseph Voillot – 2016

28.11.2017billn

Tasted in Volnay with Jean-Pierre Charlot, 01 November 2017.

Domaine Joseph Voillot
Place de l’Église
21190 Volnay
Tel: +33 3 80 21 62 27
www.joseph-voillot.com

Jean-Pierre Charlot on 2017:
It was important because we harvested a volume that helps us to reconstitute our stocks, and necessarily I think, to reduce prices – the wines are already too expensive. It was a vintage where it was easy to work the vines, with not too much rain. There was again the threat of frost so this year we burned the straw to take the edge of the sun, without that I think we would have lost some crop to the minus temperatures…

“We harvested 6 September, so quite early, with very little to triage and good maturity. They taste good already – a year that’s easy to sell and drink – commercially it’s very nice. We have 210 barrels of wine versus ‘normal’ of 180, with good tension/acidity and not so ripe fruit as 2009 – a good victory. ​It’s a precious vintage, whilst of-course 2015 is good, I’d rather harvest early with the acidity and add a little sugar than have some figgy, roast aromas and flavours by waiting and not using sugar. I used just a little in 2017 but none in 2015.

Jean-Pierre’s main problem was that a virus that laid him out during the harvest – for at least three weeks he could hardly move!

Jean-Pierre Charlot on 2016:
As mentioned, ‘normal’ here would be 180 barrels – in 2016 we have 70. The frost was at its worst at the bottom of the hill, here I had 44 barrels in 2009, but only 7 in 2016: It will be very hard for people who normally buy the bourgognes or villages wine this year. We have no Clos Micault as I only harvested 6 cases of fruit. I’m trying to allocate based on what was ordered in 2015, but divided by 2 or 3…

“​The biggest victory is to see the distinct differences between all the terroirs this year.

The wines…

For all the difficulties that Jean-Pierre Charlot as gone through over the last vintages, not least the miserly volume of 2016s – this is one of the best cellars of 2016 – no question!

 

2016 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Vieilles-Vignes
This and the Volnay are in bottle a) as it was a small quantity – and b) because the barrels were needed the for the 2017s – bottled 1st week of September.
A lovely, red berry fruit here – alive. Supple, a growing wave of intensity and really an impressive intensity at that – and really some extract of flavour in the finish. Be patient but its great!
2016 Volnay Vieilles-Vignes
From 5 different parcels; Grand and Petits Poisots, Gigotte, Pacquiers and Famines​, this year some parts are really small. Had to buy a smaller tank!
Ooh here is a little less rigour and a more open-armed aroma. Narrower, more line, more energy, more accessible despite at least as much intensity. Small saline notes and real persistence – bravo – such a great villages…
2016 Pommard Vieilles-Vignes
Normally from Cras, Saucilles, Vaumauriens and Poisot
Really a fine nose, one that pulls you in. Cool, juicy wine, with energy and layers of deliciousness. This is my new favourite – complex, a little saline, really super.

2016 Volnay 1er Cru Fremiets
Just a little extra fresh fruit here – perhaps even more inviting than the last. Super depth, mouth-watering, growing volume. Again saline and complex – more about melting, long, long flavour than intensity in the finish – but what length!

2016 Volnay 1er Cru Champans
Like tha last wine, an accent more of sweetness and really an extra depth too. Class to the cool texture, a hint more tannin here – the flavour melting and spreading-out from the core – “All the parameters are there for good bottle in the future years – it’s a shame that so many are drunk in the first 2 or 3 years” says Jean-Pierre.
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets
Planted in 1982
A little extra clarity – simply a great Caillerets nose, really great. Like the last a cool, intense, juicy fruit character, the tannin seems on a lower order to start but slowly grows in the middle. A big extra intensity in the finish. Slowly fading waves of finishing flavour – great again.
2016 Pommard 1er Cru Pezerolles
The nose starts a little narrower but the depth of pure fruit is simply a wondrous thing. Supple, fresh, quite wide. The flavour comes later and with more subtlety than the last two Volnays, but the complexity and width of finishing flavour is simply beautiful.
2016 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens
Like the Pezerolles this is about depth of aroma – plus a beautiful floral note too. Fresh, more structure, the flavour a little more mineral and a lot less giving but it has great volume and presence. Really a wine to wait for, but the aroma is already to die for…

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