Tasted in Volnay with Pascal Roblet, 18 November 2022.
Domaine Roblet-Monnot
11 rue de la Combe
21190 Volnay
Tel: +33 6 74 21 82 04
More reports on Domaine Roblet-Monnot
Pascal an 2022:
“2022 wasn’t a simple year but the volume was ‘normal.’ The pre-harvest rain helped achieve the final maturity.”
Pascal an 2021:
“2021 wasn’t the worst for volume for me – that was 2016, and 2012 wasn’t far behind, but that was the hail. Taillepieds was the worst affected in 21, that and Pitures – I wouldn’t ever imagine the need to protect those vines with candles but this year I was wrong… In the end, it was half a harvest. The regionals weren’t any better as my vines in the Hautes Côtes were sufficiently forward that they were also badly affected. In 21 you had to respect what was in the grapes and not try to find something that wasn’t there. It resembles 2000 in that there wasn’t much in the skins. You have otherwise to look at the 1979s for something similar. I had long cuvaisons – up to 30 days. I also harvested quite late so roughly 13 degrees without chaptalisation. And for the three parcels of the Volnay St.François, I have up to one week difference in harvest date. It’s true that I’m looking to construct the wines based on their locations and vinifications. By this I hope to get the quintessence of the different places ”
The wines…
The (red) wines here make most others seem meagre in 2021 – deeply coloured and concentrated. But there is still the finesse of the vintage too. It’s always a great pleasure to taste with Pascal!
Ooh, there’s colour here. A silky smooth width of darker red fruit. Broad, plenty of energy, mouth-watering with growing intensity. Slightly padded with the barrel. Structurally interesting and juicy finishing. Good length. That’s a wine with a lot of depth for a 21 but all the freshness you could wish for. Bravo Bourgogne!
2021 Pommard
Again, plenty of colour. Deeper, darker, more reductive. Incisive wine, breadth but still direct, framed with a grainless tannin affecting the texture but not really dry. Broad, dark, quite mineral finishing. Structured for sure but never hard.
Pascal’s father is called Francois, and one of his sons too. This note from a blend of three barrels…
A glorious nose – forward, perfumed and complex. A more supple wine than the components, faintly tannic though no grain. Almost juicy in the middle and very, very long – a great Volnay.
2021 Volnay 1er Cru Vignes de Madeleine
The blend of Robardelles, Brouillards and Taillepieds.
More airy and aromatic, fine and direct. Mouth-filling wine, there’s volume here. The structure of Taillepieds is the most visible, silken, a little fat there is more here than for the parts.
And Les Whites:
Ooh, golden, vibrant aromatic. Direct, intense, dynamic wine. Growing wider, hard to pinpoint the fruit almost some mandarin. Anyone would love this – bravo!
2021 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Blanc
Broader and deeper, clean and complex. In the mouth too a wine of cool, mouthwatering width. Structurally shaped but never hard. Excellent wine!
2021 Meursault 1er Les Charmes
A bigger and more airy nose, still vibrant, more direct, growing in intensity, mineral but still laced with the golden fruit. A different interpretation of chardonnay to the average but an absolutely delicious one. Finishing with a phenolic style.