Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
The most brooding of Jean-Pierre Charlot’s Volnays, the Champans reveals savoury aromas of plum, cassis, cherry, grilled meats and rich soil. On the palate the wine is very concentrated and full-bodied, with a deep core of vibrant fruit and a rich framing of ripe tannins. Excellent and full of potential.
-
Wine Spectator
Sappy raspberry, cherry and spice flavors mark this supple red. Elegant and succulent, with floral and mineral hints adding depth. The firm structure meshes nicely as the finish lingers. Shows fine intensity and balance. Best from 2023 through 2040.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Volnay 1er Cru les Champans is the largest of Jean-Pierre Charlot's cuvées this year at fifteen barrels. It offers attractive raspberry and wild strawberry scents on the enticing nose, the oak neatly integrated and the terroir showing through. Some lovely undergrowth scents emerge with time. The palate is well balanced, quite broad-shouldered in style with firm tannin, not quite as nuanced as the Caillerets or Fremiets but at least there is substance and girth on the finish. This is what you might call a solid but delicious Champans.
Barrel Sample: 90-92
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
On the hillsides between Pommard and Meursault, Volnay is one of two villages in the Côte de Beaune of Burgundy that is recognized for its extraordinary Pinot Noir. Pommard is the other; the rest of the villages are most known for some of the most exceptional Chardonnay in the world. While Volnay Pinot Noir tends to be light in color and more delicate than that of Pommard, they typically stand on par with each other in regards to quality and demand.
Volnay can’t claim any Grands Crus vineyards but more than half of it has achieved Premier Cru status. Volnay Premiers Crus vineyards stretch across the entire village from northeast to southwest, abutting and actually falling “into” Meursault. Where they merge is a vineyard called Les Santenots. Pinot Noir grows in this Meursault Premier Cru but since that village is most associated with stellar whites, the Pinot Noir from Les Santenots, takes the name Volnay Santenots. Immediately above it are Volnay’s other prized Premier Cru, Le Cailleret, Champans, Clos des Chênes and Le Cailleret.
Volnay Pinot Noir are earthy with red or blue fruit. Aromas such as smoke, herbs, forest, cocoa and spice are common and on the palate they are gorgeous and concentrated with finesse but won’t truly charm you without some age.