L’Elegance de Volnay 2023

One of my favourite village tastings is l’Elegance de Volnay, which gives one an opportunity to taste wines from various Volnay domaines.

This year there was a selection of vintages – 2021, 2020, 2019 – and even some older wines to try.

As always, there were surprises. But the trusted producers stood well and firm. Domaine de Montille was showing very well indeed, and so were the wines of Thomas Bouley of Domaine Jean-Marc Bouley.

Pierrick Bouley’s wines were also showing strong form after his decision to reduce sulphur levels; these are truly fine wines. The 2019 generic Burgundy was delicious.

Of the newer names, François Buffet impressed me. I like his style more and more.

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On the negative side, there was a 2018 Cuvee Volnay Santenots from the Hospices de Beaune that was quite an awful oaky soup; perhaps not so surprising given the density of the 2018s. The vintage with this oak treatment is hardly the best combination.

On the positive side, Domaine Marquis d’Angerville produced a very fine 2018 from Fremiet. So you see, 2018 is not all bad.