Domaine Nicolas Rossignol Volnay Chevret Premier Cru 2005
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Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Rich, fat and generous on the palate with notes of red and black fruits. Round and silky with soft and tender tannins. It is the perfect incarnation of the wines of Volnay.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Distinctive. Dark fruits--blackberry, black currant--along with licorice and spice notes permeate this concentrated red. It's full of savory character, with a mineral-saline streak on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Rossignol 2007 Volnay Chevret – from a site below Caillerets, shared with Bouchard and Henri Boillot – displays a lovely amalgam of blueberry and bright red raspberry, with a combination of confiture and tart fruit character – indeed, of ripeness and vivacity as a whole – that puts me in mind a bit of Zinfandel. Overtones of peat and blond tobacco, white pepper and ginger, salt and lobster shell reduction add to the allure, and fine-grained tannins.
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.