The last three years visiting Volnay have no been fun. You know that because of the 70% crop losses, it's like walking into a wake. And you know that you are going to have to beg like a dog to get an allocation. But this is Clos de Chenes, one of the hallowed vineyards in Burgundy and I really want as many of you to be able to try these wines as possible. And because I can buy them direct, I can make them affordable. And so I grab my knee pads, forget my dignity, get down on my knees and beg for as much as I can get.
Today's wine is is the 2014 Reyane & Pascal Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Clos des Chenes" and it can be had for $49.99 a 3-pack which is obviously the lowest price in the country for Clos des Chenes from any producer.
This wine is so precise. So finesse-driven with classic Clos des Chenes tannins and stunning depth and purity of fruit. The fruit is concentrated and powerful but not big, if that makes any sense. More along the lines of stunningly fresh intensity. There is a line of the classic stony Clos des Chenes minerality. Superb balance and freshness and significant ripe and sweet tannin. It will require patience. The aromas, when tasting in a cellar, mind you a very cold cellar, can be muted and they were when I tasted it. But the aromatics will come out with time and they will be what has made Clos de Chenes, and Volnay famous. Lavendar. Lilacs. On a bes of stones.This will be an aromatic freak show when it matures a bit in the bottle. This wine is why you buy Volnay. It is why you buy high end Burgundy.
This wine will last for 40 years. When Clos de Chenes averages $200 a bottle in 10-20 years, you can laugh at your friends while you drink this. Mature Clos de Chenes is a blow people away kind of wine. It's the kind of wine you drink a bottle of per year for 20 years.
I just had a brilliant bottle of the 2012, and the 2014 is not far off, but I do think it will drink later than the 2012, which, due to the depth of the 2012 fruit some can be drunk young.
Allen Meadows has also tasted this wine and gave it a 91 and had the following to say about it.
"Here too a background application of wood sets off the attractively layered nose that features notes of spice, pungent earth and a cool but ripe mix of various red berry fruit and plum scents. There is excellent punch to the intense and broad-shouldered flavors that exhibit a sleek muscularity as well as ample minerality on the powerful and youthfully austere finale. Still, this very firmly structured effort is worth checking out provided that you have at least some patience." BH 91 Drink 2026+
Pascal Bouley is my kind of producer. No fancy website. No fancy labels. Not fancy marketers. Réyane et Pascal just work the vines every day, all day to make the best wines that they can, year in and year out. And it shows. I really love their wines and my customers dirnk them, the word is spreading. Just another unfamous Fass Selections producer making incredible terroir-driven balanced wines.
There are certain hallowed grounds in Burgundy that when you just say the name of the vineyard it can give everyone in attendance chills. Say them with me! Meursault-Perrieres, Pommard-Rugiens, Chambolle Musigny-Les Amourueses, Nuits St. Georges Les St Georges and today's vineyard, Volnay Clos des Chenes. So they are all 1er Cru's and they all have one thing in common. While they can be fun, interesting and educational to drink young, as I do and will continue to, they all need serious bottle age to truly show their greatness. I've had mature examples of all and it is worth the wait. Maybe society has changed but when I was coming up in wine it was just a known thing and accepted fact that you have to wait for certain wines to mature. Nowadays we all know this but it seems that a wine being hard as a brick in its youth from a great site in Europe is a demerit against it in the instant gratification society we have become. There's something about growing old with a bottle that is a bit romantic to me. You move it from city to city, in and out of relationships, from job to job, and the wine travels with you and becomes a part of your experience and then finally you open it. That moment before you open it is what it is all about. The anticipation in that moment, nothing really beats it. I find it so satisfying. Notice I did not mention the quality of the wine. Obviously we want it to be good, if not great, but it's sometimes not about the wine completely.
Volnay lovers are already deciding how many cases they want at this price. For everyone else, this is Volnay royalty and a once in a lifetime chance to try this at an affordable price. This is Limited and will be allocated. Pascal and Reyane lost 70% of their crop in 2014 die to hail so this will be allocated!
2014 Reyane and Pascal Bouley Volnay 1er Cru "Clos des Chenes" - $52.99 ($149.97 3-pack) (EXTREMELY LIMITED)
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