As I previously reported, Benoît Landanger, son of owner Patrick Landanger, will be taking over operation of the estate on January 1, 2018. Benoît has been working with his father at the estate for the past few years. Additionally, the estate was fortunate enough to acquire about 20 ares of Chevalier-Montrachet from Olivier Leflaive, the first vintage of which will be 2017.
In Chambolle-Musigny and Puligny-Montrachet, the estate lost the great majority of the crop to the frost on 27 April. In Chambolle, the estate made 20 barrels of wine in 2015, but only three in 2016. In Puligny, production was 20% of normal. Other appellations did better.
As always, the wines were entirely destemmed here. Malolactic fermentations were rather late for the estate, finishing in April, May, and June. The wines were racked into stainless steel after the 2017 harvest.
2016 Santenay 1er Cru Clos Tavannes
As usual, the Clos Tavannes demonstrates that one can get high quality Burgundy from less famous vineyards. The wine is creamy in texture and has dense cassis fruit with good length. The body is medium-weight. (89-92)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru En Caillerets
This wine is smooth in texture with concentrated cassis and other dark berry fruit and good minerality. The wine is still very primary, though. (90-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos d’Audignac
The dark fruit aromas are followed in the mouth by cassis and other dark fruits and good minerality. The wine is light on the palate and overall quite elegant. (91-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d’Or
The dark fruit nose is quite mineral. In the mouth, the wine is mineral and long with direct dark fruit that continues to develop. There’s a smooth texture here and overall length and finesse. This should be truly outstanding wine. (92-95)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des 60 Ouvrées
I suspect this wine ultimately will prove better than I perceived it on the day I tasted. It shows mineral dark fruit aromas. The mouth is light on the palate and not as concentrated as the previous wines. The fruit is cassis and other dark fruits with minerality. There’s overall finesse here, but the wine seems a bit disjointed. (90-94)
2016 Pommard 1er Cru Jarollières
As it to be expected, the Jarollières shows more power and more marked tannins than the Volnays. The fruit is dark, the wine has minerality, and excellent depth. (91-95)
2016 Corton-Clos-du-Roi
This wine shows good finesse for Corton, along with Corton power and mineral, intense dark fruits. (92-95)
2016 Corton-Bressandes
The Bressandes is a bit more direct and firm than the Clos-d-Roi and perhaps there’s a bit more red fruit in this wine, too. (92-95)
As I reported last year, the estate has been experimenting with amphorae. The 2015 and 2016 versions of the wines below were both vinified and raised in amphorae, the 2017 versions will be raised only in amphorae:
2016 Volnay 1er Cru En Caillerets amphora
Compared to the En Caillerets vinified and raised in the traditional manner, this wine is more open and lighter on the palate. It shows good length. (91-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d’Or amphora
This wine is floral in the nose. The mouth shows intense cassis and other dark fruits and is tannic and concentrated, but doesn’t have finesse. (91-94)
2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des 60 Ouvrées amphora
The Clos des 60 Ouvrées aphora is creamy with plenty of finesse and lightness on the palate. This wine is more open than the regular Clos des 60 Ouvrées and shows cassis fruit with outstanding length. This is an excellent exposition of the Caillerets terroir. (91-95)
In white:
2016 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Le Cailleret
What a pity that there is so little of this wine, because it is so good. The nose is a perfect melding of butter notes with almond. The mouth shows good acidity and is light, pure, and long with bitter almond and butter flavors. Great finesse here. (93-97)