Yvon Clerget - Volnay Carelle Sous La Chapelle 2018

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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.

‘Carelle sous la Chappelle’ refers to the old chapel on the road at the bottom of the village / Directly below 1er Cru Bousse d’Or / 45+ year old vines / Southeast exposure / De-stemmed / Indigenous yeast / Aged in barrel (20% new) / Unfined and unfiltered

Yvon Clerget Description

"The reborn Domaine Y. Clerget could very well turn out to be one of the great recent success stories in Burgundy… Readers should do whatever they can to taste these wines. [Thibaud] Clerget is just 28 and appears to have a brilliant career in front of him. Bravo!"-Antonio Galloni, Vinous

The Clergets have been working their vineyards for generations until 2009 when Yvon announced he was going to retire. They began selling all of their fruit to Henri Boillot while Yvon's son Thibaud continued to study and learn more about vineyard management and winemaking while working with Henri Boillot and Hudelot Noellat. Pretty good places to learn! In 2015, the Clergets stopped selling their fruit and Thibaud produced and bottled his first wines under the Domaine Yvon Clerget label.

Thibaud Clerget is the winemaker, in his 30s by the way, and oversees top premier cru vineyard holdings in Volnay and Pommard to go along with a tiny parcel of Clos Vougeot from Grand Maupertui in the upper section of the Clos next to Anne Gros and Meo Camuzet!