Tasted in Volnay with Thiébault Huber, 12 November 2018.

Domaine Huber-Verdereau
3 rue de la Cave
21190 Volnay
Tel :+33 3 80 21 64 37
www.huber-verdereau.com

Thiébault on 2018:
“2018 – Eventually – yes! I really wished for a vintage like this though we thought that the soil, gorged with water, at the start of the season wasn’t the best start, but then dry, dry indeed a calm almost serene vintage. We still had lots of worry because we had 200mm more rain than normal to start the vintage. But there was always plenty of sun and wind – they are most efficacious anti-mildew treatments – so we used next to no copper in this vintage. There was a little worry because of the dryness but there was about 10mm of rain which helped. We started harvesting 30 August for the whole 9 hectares and I have no regrets. Easy fermentations, very happy.”

Thiébault on 2017:
“In 2017 we started 3rd of September so not much later than in 2018. The start of the season was drier, and again some worry for blocked maturities in the heat of August. Not to forget that we had to light the straw when the frost came, and some unprotected parcels were indeed frosted so I think it really worked. The difference between 27 and 31 august was night and day after some 30mm of rain on the 30th – everything then became relaxed and the grapes came into a good place. The degrees are not too high though it’s certainly a sunny year. I find the wines very balanced. ”

The wines…

A good selection here, relatively tight aromas, but a good, indeed ‘correct,’ selection.

The Volnay was the last bottled wine – the rest are tank samples.

2017 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Les Constances
Didn’t declare as a Bourgogne Côte d’Or but will in 2018. Other side of route national, all destemmed. Long cuvaison in cement. Racked start of July, bottled at the end of July
An airy, quite pretty nose though relatively compact. Supple, pretty red fruit, very nice texturally. Long and tasty with a correct level of concentration. Yum.

2017 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Les Grands Gouttes
A parcel towards Puligny. All destemmed, elevage in wood for 10 months, but none new.
Hmm – a lovely fruit – more width than the first Bourgogne. Supple, great texture again, a little extra depth of flavour – nicely concentrated. Delicious, elegant wine – Lovely Bourgogne.

2017 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Le Cretot à Droite
In Bouze-lès-Beaune – planted in 1966 with some pinot beurot in the mix – maybe 15% and vinified together. Limestone here and needs a little extra time for full maturity. Elevage in demi-muids, bottled just before the harvest.
Hmm, red fruit with a faintly herby spice. Fresh but with concentration too – fine-grain tannin, mouth-watering finishing flavour. Hmm – very tasty indeed!

2017 Monthelie La Combe Danay
White soil – argilo-calcaire – lots freshness here. Made in foudres.
Very modest colour. A deeper, rounder fruit but still very red cherry in style. Supple and round – I like the nose, it’s very red cherry fruit, almost cordial style but cut by a nicely balancing freshness of structure with a saline edge. Lovely length…

2017 Monthelie 1er Les Vignes Rondes
Bought in grapes.
More colour here. More width and interest to the nose. Lots of fresh, mouth-filling volume – complex, mouth-watering flavour, touched by a saline-edged tannin – easily my favourite so far – simply excellent wine!

2017 Volnay
Assembly of 4 parcels near the restaurant Auberge des Vignes. Not much pigeage, all destemmed. No new oak in the elevage, bottled last week.
Hmm – a nice line to this wine – some depth of aroma too – though not much width. Hmm, another wine with a freshness and saline accent. Plenty of open structure but nothing jarring – layered flavour that’s spicy-complex and slightly tannic but an elegant package.

2017 Volnay Robardelles
From the villages section below the 1er Cru part, next to Santenots, planted in 1943 in the villages section, a relatively white soil here – 20% whole clusters and 1 new barrel from 6. From tank to be bottled in 2-3 days.
Good colour. A nose that’s complex and a little structural with a darker fruit hiding below. Supple, concentrated – delicious fruit – layers of mouth-watering fruit. Ooh that’s good – and long too!

2017 Volnay 1er Fremiers
Vines next to those of Domaine Joseph Voillot, 0.11 Hectares. Also not yet bottled. Planted in 1984 ‘starting to become interesting’ – one big barrel – 500 litres.
A little less colour. Hmm a nice depth of aroma – faintly spice – nice. Hmm – lithe, lined by fine tannin but with good fresh energy, lovely width and finishing interest…

2017 Pommard Les Vaumuriens Hautes
Also in tank, vines exposed to the east.
Nose not yet fully ready. Hmm – nice shape and weight on the palate – actually the note on the nose is a little oak that’s more obvious on the palate.

2017 Pommard 1er Les Bertins
Planted 55 – 50% wc
Fresh, open, red fruit. Direct, lithe, growing intensity of concentrated bass notes for this fruit. Growing into the finish – excellent and delicious!

Les Blancs:
All cork here but relatively expensive cork – some markets get screw-caps for the regionals – nothing synthetic.

2017 Aligote Le Grange de Duc
Neighbour is Lafarge, so all is biodynamic here. No sulfur until racked in the summer – bottled start of July.
Wide and lovely almost an impression of caramel to the fresh fruit. Hmm – density and indeed, concentration. This takes time to melt over the palate – there’s a lot of wine here – aligoté du garde. Delicious complexity in the finish though!

2017 Bourgogne Cuvée N°1 Les Lameroses
No barrel here – like the aligoté. A parcel not far from the Hospital de Meursault on the ‘good’ side of the road
Hmm – a nice floral accent to this nose. Fresh, great line, melting slowly over the palate. A touch of finishing salinity – nicely lingering too. A slightly low-sulfur tang to the flavour. Very good.

2017 Bourgogne Cuvée N°2 Les Grands Gouttes
Chardonnay, chardonnay muscaté and who knows what – was quite strongly frosted in 2017 so only a low volume. Also bottled in July.
Hmm – wide, a full nose with a little oaky augmentation. Hmm – lovely over the palate – melting, lots of oak flavour but still delicious mouth-watering wine.

2017 Bourgogne Blanc
In Puligny, planted in 72 with some chardonnay muscaté. Next to the Bourgogne Clos of Chateau du Puligny.
Hmm – depth but also a width of fresh aroma – very attractive. Round, lovely fresh energy – easily the classiest of these three wines today. The finish is a little compact but very long. My favourite of these three…

2017 Mercurey 1er Les Combins
Bought, organic grapes. South-facing, lots of limestone and full sun – can’t harvest late or it’s too ripe. In 2017 one 500l barrel and two of 350 l one of the the 350s was new
A lovely floral nose – very perfumed. Bright, mineral, slightly reductive but with energy and freshness – easily the best wine so far – I’d carafe today – but a lot of fine and long complexity here – super.

2017 Meursault En Dressolles
2 parcels planted in 57 – ‘lovely fine grapes here, never a big volume.’
Oak on the nose with a little sweetness of fruit. Bright, plenty of energy and a wide, melting complexity of very nice, slightly saline flavour. A little oak fills out the finish – but wait and this should be excellent.

2017 Puligny Les Levrons
The only wine not yet in bottle. A 300l barrel – new.
A little oak toast on the nose, almost spiced. Hmm – lovey shape and freshness in the mouth, but it needs the oak to fade – wait three years and it should be perfect.