Jean Vaudoisey - Volnay Les Mitans 2020

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Volnay wine is produced in the commune of Volnay in Côte de Beaune of Burgundy, and in some vineyards in the commune of Meursault. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Volnay is only used for red wine with pinot noir as the main grape variety. There are no Grand Cru vineyards within Volnay, but several highly regarded Premier Cru vineyards. The AOC was created in 1937 (87 years ago).

In 2008, there were 206.7 hectares (511 acres) of vineyard surface was in production for Volnay wine at village and Premier Cru level, and 7,733 hectoliter of wine was produced, corresponding to just over 1 million bottles.

The AOC regulations also allow up to 15% total of chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot gris as accessory grapes in the red wines, but this not very often practiced. The allowed base yield is 40 hectoliter per hectare. The grapes must reach a maturity of at least 10.5% potential alcohol for village-level wine, and 11.0% for Premier Cru wine.

The style of Volnay wine is typically light and aromatic, and elegant rather than powerful, with considerably less tannin than the Pommard wines from the neighboring village.

2020 Volnay 1er Mitans: The vines are sited behind the big red house that’s on your left-hand side before the old Chapelle – direction Meursault. Here with 25% wc – the only wine with some. ‘I did it because sometimes I find too much finesse with this wine!’ Very faintly reductive – good quality of fruit again – eventually hinting at the wc with a slowly developing perfume. Big in the mouth, structure but so mouth-watering too. There’s plenty of concentration and material in this wine – certainly not too much finesse – be patient! I would wait at least three years – but you can wait 15 if you wish – no problem!

Romain on 2020: “We started harvesting 22 August, starting with the whites where there were good yields, though below the maximum allowed. All our whites are quite young vines. For the reds, 2020 was a deception! In the growing season we saw lots of grapes on the vines but in the end, not much juice was produced. We had a bit more than in 2019 but not much more. Really it was the lack of rain that dictated the volume – we had plenty of grapes but not much juice.” -- Bill Nanson, Burgundy Report

The vineyard is located in the middle of the hillside between Volnay and the main road "D974" Beaune - Châlon-sur-Saône, hence its name, in Old French "Mitan" meaning "middle".

Jean Vaudoisey Description

Romain Poirrotte is the new, super-fresh face of this old Volnay domaine. Jean Vaudoisey is Romain’s grandfather and Romain, the 6th generation of this side of the family (since 1806) has taken on this 7 hectare family domaine from the 2015 vintage onward...Romain’s 7 hectares, include regional wines, Volnay, Volnay 1er Cru, Pommard, and a little Meursault too; Meursault that’s sited next to Santenots close to Meursault’s camping place.

Romain explains that he’s often worked with his grandfather and thought it fitting that the domaine stays with his name – Jean Vaudoisey. Triage is in the vines and again afterwards at the domaine, then all destemmed. Romain said the first thing he did was to buy a new pneumatic press, as it was sure to make a big difference! Romain hopes some of the former clientele of his grandfather will remain, but expects it won’t be so difficult to sell his wines. -- Bill Nanson, Burgundy Report