tasting / laying down / 2021 Burgundy
Beaune Premier Cru Coucherais Soft red-fruit, strawberry aroma. Scented, soft, and rounded. Gentle wine, with an open texture. Strawberry aromas to finish. Airy, cottonwool profile, with a warm perfume. All about the cloud of perfume. 2025–30. | 91
Beaune Premier Cru Vignes Franches
A higher toned and slightly peppery aroma. Light and fine-grained tannins. Quite light-bodied, gentle, and rounded, but with more structure and intensity than the Coucherais. Fragrance of soft garden herbs. Hint of minerality to finish. 2025–30. | 91–92
Pommard En Boeuf
From a south-facing flank beside Vignots, well into the cold valley. No frost damage, due to the later budbreak. Normal crop. 40% whole-bunch. Anise aromas. Slightly grainy tannin, but fresh and energetic. Well-ripened red fruits. Very tangy and aromatic. 2025–28. | 87
VOLNAY DOMAINE DU MARQUIS
D’ANGERVILLE Winemaker François Duvivier describes 2021 as a classic, wet, rainy, and cold vintage typical of Burgundy in the ’70s and ’80s. “It’s a long time since we were waiting for higher alcohol levels,” he noted. No chaptalization, so the premiers crus have from 12.5% to 13% ABV, and Duvivier used rather less than the usual 15% of new oak. “Happy wines for this vintage. It has the potential to age for 15 years, but will drink sooner than the 2020 vintage.” A pure, bright, and energetic flight.
Volnay Premier Cru Champans
Pink rose petal. A gently scented wine, with a light glide on the palate. There is sweetness to the texture and more gloss to the fruit, and it purrs in a satisfied way to finish. 2026–30+. | 93–94
Volnay Premier Cru Clos des Ducs
Much more reductive. This is stronger and dense. It has intension and power; a light, lithe muscularity and a long finish. “That’s the white marl,” Duvivier explained. 2026–35. | 95
Volnay Premier Cru Fremiets
A fresh, pure, red fruit-aroma. The palate is forthcoming, with red-cherry fruit and flowers. Delicate and light. It dances to a bright and talcy finish. Lucid wine. 2025–30. | 92–93
Volnay Premier Cru Taillepieds
Quite spiky and taut. Vibrant. Lean. Slices on the finish. Clipped precision. Quite edgy and austere at present. (Not quite Francois’s “happy” expression. Seems rather cross.) 2026–35. | 93–94
DOMAINE FRANÇOIS BUFFET A flight of light-bodied, supple-textured wines from Marc-Olivier Buffet. Even the Pommard
194 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
and Pernand-Vergelesses are charming. All are engaging and accessible in youth but, being nicely balanced, offer some aging potential as well.
Pommard Premier Cru Les Poutures
A gamey aroma leads into a chunky palate. It has some shoulder. Somewhat languid initially but it gathers momentum and finishes punchy and earthy. 2025–29. | 90
Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru Les Narbantons
Red-cherry and floral aroma; slim and fruity, with delicate tannins, light and crisp, with a fresh and slightly salty finish. Spot-on. What an attractive Savigny. 2024–28. | 88
Volnay Premier Cru Carelle Sous La Chapelle
Floral first impression. Ripe summer fruits on the aroma and palate, but the shape is delicate and light-bodied, with a fine and talcy texture. Sweet fruit, with light tannin and a fresh finish. Trim and airy wine. 2024–28. | 91–92
Volnay Premier Cru Champans
Aroma of just-ripe wild strawberries, with highlights of white pepper. Slides into the palate on summer fruits; quite plump and lightly intense on the mid- palate. It has finely textured, supple tannins, with a fresh, cool finish. Harmonious. Volnay charm and delicacy. 2024–29. | 92–93
Volnay Premier Cru Clos des Chênes
Cherry and herbal aroma. Quite a sweet attack. Supple texture upfront, but it crunches into the finish, where there is more austerity. Straight, juicy, and fresh. Sapidity and edge. 2025–30. | 93
DOMAINE CLOS DE LA
CHAPELLE I generally preferred the whites to the reds at here in 2021. Some of the reds were a little lean. The old-vine Taillepieds, however, has good substance, and I liked the Corton-Bressandes’s soft suede texture and plump generosity. The stand-out wine for me is the Pommard Chanlins.
White
Pernand-Vergelesses Premier Cru Sous Frétille
Super-fresh and lively. This bounces on the palate. Quite cutting pithiness on the citrus mid-palate, with just enough ripeness to balance. Lemon sprinkled with salt, and a touch of sweetness here, too. Sparkles and fizzles. Lovely terroir expression. 2025–29. | 92
Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
From just over half an acre (0.23ha) on the Pernand-Vergelesses side. A straight, lean, keen, and savory palate, with marked tension. Lightly steely and austere, with a persistent, pithy finish. 2026–30+. | 94–95
Beaune Premier Cru Clos des Aigrots Redcurrant aroma. Silky and pure, peppery and zesty. A fresh, sappy note. Lots of upfront charm and a mix of crunch and silk. One of the most engaging Beaunes I tried in 2021. 2025–30. | 93
Red
Pommard Premier Cru Chanlins Peppery, up-toned, and piquant. Silky texture, slippery, talc-fine tannins. Delicate and pure, on a long, light, and fluid line. Delicate but intense. A refined Pommard. 2026–30+. | 94
DOMAINE MICHEL LAFARGE Frédéric Lafarge chose to blend and make fewer cuvées in 2021. So, there is just one Aligoté, Meursault, Passetoutgrain, one Volnay village, and just one Volnay Premier Cru. Neither his grandfather nor his father had ever seen a “winter” frost in spring, which damaged the premiers crus so profoundly that they were blended for the first time. All five premiers crus come together in probably the most complete and complex Volnay I tasted in 2021. Everything was harvested the same day and fermented in one normal-size 2.5hl vat, giving a ten-barrel cuvée. The Beaune Grèves vines are 100 years old this
year and still in great shape. It is hand-destemmed and rolled through a willow sieve, which gives intact berries, “for energy and purity,” explained Frédéric, who considers 2021 a “classic vintage, with the tannins very present, but very rounded and silky and very Volnay.” In style, he finds it between 2013 and 2010, “for the freshness and energy of 2013, and the depth and fruit of 2010."
White Bourgogne Aligoté Raisins Dorés
Intense lemon-sherbet aroma, with rather good concentration and smoothness to the palate. Light, pithy finish. 2024–28. | 84
Beaune Premier Cru Clos Les Aigrots
Concentrated fruit, quite lively, with grapefruit notes, nicely balanced with sweet acidity. Good density of smooth minerals to finish. 2024–30. | 92
Meursault
Depth and fullness, this is rounded and even feels quite rich. Good focus mid-palate, and a delicious, candied-citrus finish. A sumptuous, generous, and well-balanced Meursault. 2025–30+. | 90
Red Bourgogne Passetoutgrain L’Exception
Blueberry and floral aroma. Splashing fruit on the palate, with lots of energy and soft tannin. 2023–26. | 84
Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Lucid Pinot, with red fruit and flowers. Lively, silky, and just delightful. 2024–28. | 86–87
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