Many Volnays in Greenwich Village

About 13 winelovers gathered at AOC Bedford for a Volnay dinner last night. Nice company, excellent food (I started with Serrano ham, then we all shared some duck pastilla and then suckling pig, followed by a cheese course), some good wines. I'm always happy when Betsy accompanies me. Brief notes:

A couple of starters:

2001 Boxler Riesling (L30) Lightbodied, more floral than fruity, a pleasant summer sipper that's less complex than the other Boxlers I've had. Still, nice enough wine. B

1997 Becker "Kronenbourg" Riesling On the softer side (as one might expect from the vintage), but very pleasant. Ripe peach fruit, a little wet stones, more ZH than Trimbach. B/B+

On to the Volnays:

1994 d'Angerville Clos des Ducs Volnay 1er (magnum) I was helping with opening and was a bit worried by this one- cork slightly depressed, signs of seepage, but it actually showed very well for the vintage. Softer style, not a lot of depth of fruit, but clean and clear with a little mushroom and earth on the finish. Drink up. B

1997 d'Angerville Clos des Ducs Volnay 1er I expected this to be maturing, but it seemed overmature. Roasted plum fruit left a bit of unpleasant candiedness. My neighbor opined it maybe slightly corked, I think a bit cooked. C+/B-

1997 Champy Callierets Volnay 1er A little clunky, with red fruit and a bit of roasted meat. Some thought bretty, and some glasses did seem quite sweaty/barnyardy. I'm pretty brett-tolerant,and gave this a B/B-

2002 Bouchard Caillerets "Ancienne Cuvee Carnot" Volnay 1er This seems to be an awkward time for 2002s, and this was showing mostly acid and tannin. There seems to be good underlying fruit, but it's really underlying. B/B- for now, but with strong upward potential.

2002 D'Angerville Volnay 1er I've had and liked this before, but this isn't showing much, I think I get some damp cardboard, corked, not ranked.

1999 Potel Clos de la Chapelle Volnay 1er Surprisingly high acidity. Nicely structured, the black cherry fruit handles the acidity nicely, there some 5-spice on the nose after a bit. B+

1999 Bouchard Caillerets "Ancienne Cuvee Carnot" Volnay 1er More closed. Some raspberry fruit, hints of earth and Bordeauxish coffee. OK but not great. B

2002 Jean Boillot Chevrets Volnay 1er More fruit driven than other 2002s. All about black cherry fruit. Nice restaurant wine. B

1999 Dom des Comtes Lafon Santenots Volnay 1er Dark fruit, rich, with a (pleasant) meaty note to it. Some sandalwood and mineral. Nice. B+/A-

1995 Lafarge Clos du Chateau des Ducs Volnay 1er Good acidity, but not overwhelming. Black cherries and a little raspberry, I quite like. Mark thinks fruit is underripe, not to my tastes . B+/A-

1996 d'Angerville Tallepieds Volnay 1er Ripe cherry fruit, good acidity delineates the fruit, mineral notes, and damp earth. This I could have used another pour of. Could use time, but WOTN for me. A-

2003 Voillot Champans Volnay 1er A little hard to judge as this is as (rather bizarrely, as it was in restaurant for hours) it's really cold. Seems ripe approaching overripe for my tastes. B-

1993 Ampeau Santenots Volnay 1er Red & black cherry, some spice. Acidity is a little unintegrated,but Ok. B

1978 Leroy Santenots Volnay 1er This is really flawed, someone says corked- I don't really get TCA, but what I do get isn't pleasant. D

2004 Mt. Horrocks "Cordon Cut" Riesling (Clare Valley) (375 ml) Honied pineapple, lime zest, some white pit fruit. Popular around table, for my tastes a touch more acidity would have helped. B

There was a rather horrid red sweet wine, I didn't note (was trying to get out to make train).

Mark poured a bit of the 1986 Delaforce Colheita as we were putting on our coats. Really nice, with smooth raisin and plum fruit, lots of spice. Mature and ready. I just don't know enough about Port -this is the second time Mark has surprised me with a really good Port that wasn't a big name big vintage VP that I really liked. A-/B+

Thanks to Mark Golodetz and Craig Ganzer for arranging. And thanks to Diane Kessler for making sure our geekiness didn't overwhelm Betsy. Fun night (and we ended up on same train with Mark, so got to talk more). I've had better nights of Volnay, but some good wines were in the mix.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Reply to
DaleW
Loading thread data ...

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.