Winemaker Notes
Volnay combines breeding with nobility, delicacy, elegance, and feminity. A delicate violet and berry fragrance. One of the finest representatives of the Côte de Beaune. The Volnay is in the Côte de Beaune what the Chambolle-Musigny is in the Côte de Nuits. A feminine wine which is one of the only Burgundy Pinot Noir you can already enjoy and drink when young.
Pair with roasted meats and various cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Volnay showed beautifully, with the ripe, sexy style of the vintage balanced nicely by plenty of freshness and focus. Lots of darker strawberry and framboise notes as well as spring flowers, wood smoke, spice box, and forest floor notes emerge on the nose, and it’s medium-bodied, has a light, vibrant texture, ripe tannins, a great finish. It shows more structure with time in the glass and is a beautiful, ethereal Volnay that will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and drink brilliantly over the following decade.
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.