This is one of the great estates of Burgundy and has been for generations, even before Michel Lafarge, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday and is in amazing mental and physical shape, brought the domaine to international attention. Michel’s son Frédéric recently celebrated his 60th birthday has continued the tradition, and on this trip I briefly met Frédéric’s daughter Clothilde who now works in the estate, too.
Frédéric Lafarge said that the fires and smoke to combat the freeze at the end of April saved the vintage. Harvesting began on 1 September with the Volnay-Clos du Château des Ducs and Pommard-Pézerolles and then ceased until 5 September. When vineyards suffer from a freeze (as opposed to hail), the following year, they tend to produce. abundantly. Here, the yields were nevertheless restricted, with the premiers crus averaging about 35hl/ha. As always here, the grapes were completely destemmed. With the pause after the harvesting of the Clos du Château des Ducs and Pézerolles, the harvesting team spent the time destemming those grapes by hand, grape by grape.
Malo-lactic fermentations were early, beginning in December and finishing in January. The wines remained on the lees until racking in the last half of August.
The estate has been biodynamic since the late 1990s.
This is a great set of wines with eight premiers crus of top quality, and finally, reasonable quantities will be available. (Continue reading here.)