Pommard and Volnay Blind Tasting: another lesson of humility

Here we are again, tasting blind Pommards and Volnays. I always thought it was easy to distinguish those 2: Volnay being softer, more floral with a feminine side and Pommard being the Man in the house. The terroir is of course having a huge impact on the style for those 2 neighbouring climats (going south you will go through Pommard then hitting Volnay before reaching Meursault).
Well so much for generalisation!

2002 Domaine Jean Garaudet Pommard
Lovely nose with fresh red fruits and floral notes. Earthy.
Mushroms notes on the palate with a smoky finish. Long finish. Really impressive.
I though this was a Volnay!
2003 Prince Florent de Merode Pommard Clos de la Platière
Very fruity nose, candied. Grenadine notes. Hint of mint. With air, it becomes riper with even more fruit. Palate is darker, red plums. Not very enjoyable on the palate with some wood. It showed more Pommard like with air.
I was surprised to see this was an 03 and it did not show the roasted side of the vintage but this was definitely candied.
1990 Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay 1er Cru Champans
Showing evolution on the rim. Tired nose and palate. Moldy. The wine has seen better days.
Surprised to see the vintage as the few 90s I had were still going strong and quite ripe.




2001 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds
Well so much for the hail in '01. This is simply superb and textbook Volnay. Floral, red fruits, balanced and elegant and showed great depth and weight.
2004 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes
Really weird with strong eggplant and ashes notes. It takes a lot of air and time for the fruit (nice cherry and raspberry) to appear. Still very backwards
There's also a steminess that I appreciate. Vin droit, Lafarge style.
Austere but there's definitely something bringing you back. The last drops were really good.
2001 Domaine de Courcel Pommard 1er Cru Grand Clos des Épenots
Smoky and herbs but quite shy.
Balanced with hint of earthiness but very simple on the palate and seems closed. The finish is nevertheless impressive.
Just like the Lafarge, it takes a lot of time for the wine to develop complexity. All about nice and clean dark cherry and strawberry with a touch of leather.
Firm and elegant. This needs 4-6 more years.
2006 Louis Latour Volnay 1er Cru En Chevret
Fruit, fruit and more red fruit. It tasted extracted to me.
No sense of place, no terroir. Where's Burgundy?



Some very interesting wines here with the Angerville Taillepieds showing really well in my opinion and maybe this vineyard escaped the hail in '01. The Clos des Epenots needs more time and is another example that 2001 is really a nice vintage in Burgundy that every lovers of classic Burgundy should have on their radar. I was lucky to be able to spend more time with the Lafarge and was able to taste its transformation over a few days.

It was quite difficult on some occasions to differentiate Pommard from Volnay. Pommard maybe masculine but it is in fact more about an iron fist in a velvet glove.