(Originally published 10 January 2017.)
Frédéric Lafarge said that overall, in 2016, he had 35% of a full harvest, with the whites suffering the worst. This comes after the three straight years of hail in 2012-13-14 and the small amounts in 2015 (plus hail in 2008, 2006, 2004, 2001, etc.). As for 2015, whites are 80% of normal and reds 50% of normal — very serious in any scenario except when you compare to the surrounding vintages.
As I mentioned in my overall review of the vintage, Frédéric’s father Michel has compared 2015 to 1929 — a very celebrated vintage that he grew up drinking on many occasions (Michel was born in 1928).
The Volnays were harvested between 5 and 10 September. For the reds, the malolactic fermentations finished in January and February.
As always, the Lafarge reds start at a very high level with the lower appellations and those looking for value and/or wines that come around sooner should consider the Bourgogne and the two village Volnays.
We start with the whites, which were expected to be bottled in February and March:
2015 Bourgogne-Aligoté Raisins Dorés
The ripeness of 2015 seems to have been quite beneficial for Aligoté. This wine shows excellent acidity and freshness with good length to its golden fruit. This wine was harvested very late — on 18 September. (87-91)
2015 Meursault
The Meursault is creamy with almonds. The wine has good length and adequate acidity. (85-88)
2015 Meursault Vendanges Selectionées
The vendanges sélectionnées bottling is a big step up from the regular Meursault. The butter-almond nose is followed by almond and lime flavors in the mouth. The wine is light on the palate, fresh, smooth in texture, and has good acidity to give it some structure. (88-91)
2015 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Aigrots
White Beaunes are always a hard sell to those who have not had them before, but they represent some of the more individual and interesting whites in the Côte d’Or. This wine is buttery in both nose and mouth, but discreetly so. The acidity is good and the wine has minerality, tension, and excellent finesse. There is good underlying acidity, too. The wine seems at this time less advanced than the preceding whites. (89-93)
Switching to the red wines:
2015 Bourgogne-Passetoutgrains L’Exception
A mixture of Pinot Noir and Gamay, this wine shows red fruits and white pepper in the nose. The mouth shows good acidity and freshness with plenty of nervosity to its cassis and red fruits. This is a lovely wine for current drinking, but it can age. 89/A
2015 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
The nose and mouth show slight bitterness and good freshness with tannins to provide structure. But beware that Lafarge Bourgogne is a serious wine and may take some years to come around. (87-91)
2015 Volnay
The Volnay features strawberry aromas and flavors. The mouth is light and mineral with structure, lightness, and depth. (88-91)
2015 Volnay Vendanges Sélectionnées
The vendanges sélectionnées is clear, mineral, and stony in the nose. The mouth shows cassis and minerality with purity and finesse. The wine is quite long in the mouth and constantly offering a different flavor profile. (90-94)
2015 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Aigrots
The stony, floral nose of the Clos des Aigrots is followed in the mouth by good acidity and freshness to the cassis and strawberry fruit, nervosity, and overall lightness. This vineyard produced the smallest yields for Lafarge in 2015. The vines here are 45-50 years old. (91-95)
2015 Beaune 1er Cru Grèves
This wine is from the estate’s oldest vines — 94 years. The nose shows very fine red fruits. The mouth is broader than that of the Clos des Aigrots but less nervy and it features expansive red fruits. (92-96)
2015 Volnay 1er Cru Les Mitans
The nose of the Mitans is quite floral, especially with plum blossoms. The mouth shows plums, roundness, length, purity, and freshness — the makings of an outstanding wine. (91-95)
2015 Volnay 1er Cru Les Pitures
With only one barrel of this wine produced, it will be bottled exclusively in magnum. The nose is floral. The mouth shows good acidity with red fruits and some of the firm underpinning usual for wines from this part of Volnay, bordering on Pommard. (91-95)
2015 Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Château des Ducs
The Clos du Château des Ducs shows minerality in the nose. The mouth has floral red fruits with great finesse. The wine is long, complete, and lovely. (92-96)
2015 Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets
The Caillerets shows floral aromas. The mouth shows finesse and lightness, floating above the tongue with good intensity and length for its red fruits. There’s even more finesse here than in the Clos du Château des Ducs. But as is often the case with Caillerets in this vintage, the Caillerets texture isn’t there — a function of the peculiar acidic makeup of the vintage? (91-95)
2015 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes
This should be a great Clos des Chênes. As I’ve noted before, Lafarge’s parcel is at the northeast corner of Clos des Chênes by Taillepieds and as the late Hubert de Montille made me aware, it really is a Taillepieds in soil and structure. That being the case, the sensuousness of the vintage may make this wine approachable earlier than is usually the case with Lafarge’s Clos des Chênes. Nevertheless, the structure of Lafarge’s Clos des Chênes is here along with the finesse of the vintage. The wine has depth and length to dark and red fruits. (93-96)
2015 Pommard 1er Cru Pézerolles
To give you an idea how bad things have been around Volnay and Pommard, this wine is the first Pézerolles that Lafarge has has produced since 2011 — a mere 1-1/2 barrels (about 450 bottles). The nose here is quite stony. The mouth shows the finesse of Pézerolles with roundness. The fruit is read and spreads in the mouth. The wine is long and mineral.s (92-95)
2014 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes
On this visit, I also tasted the 2014 Clos des Chênes from bottle. The wine here shows good body and is dense and tannic with great depth and some of the muscularity that Lafarge’s Clos des Chênes typically have. Very different in style from the 2015. I’d expect to wait 15, maybe even 20, years before this wine reaches its full drinking plateau. 93+/A