11/00. From Oded Lerer's collection (about $50-$60 I believe).
A wonderful Friday night dinner at our friends Oded and Nitza. Food was super tasty and plentiful as usual, as was the whole evening.
Only about 220 cases are made annually from this rare Volnay 1er Cru, a tiny (0.8 hectar) monopole parcel of the Domaine de la Pousse d'Or.
As a matter of fact, Clos de l'Audignac is a sub-plot of the 1er Cru 'Le Village' vineyard that surrounds the small village of Volnay. It is only in Burgundy of course - where naming conventions are second to none when it comes to confusing the enemy - that a Premier Cru vineyard can have the misleading name of Le Village... Naturally, owners in this vineyards are reluctant to use such a demeaning-sounding name on their labels, so they resort to the particular sub-plots names instead, especially if they can claim these sub-plot are their monopole. Thus we have Lafarge's 'Clos du Chateau des Ducs', Clerget's 'Clos du Verseuil', Pousse d'Or Clos de l'Audignac, etc. All in fact come from the 1er Cru vineyard of 'Le Village'.
COLOR: Nice vibrant dark ruby color.
NOSE: Distinct, intense and enticing. Flashy red fruit, wild flowers and a beautifully complex 'Bourgogne Nose' engulfing it all. Quite vigorous nose for a Volnay, but never losing its elegance. The nose held on for about an hour and then, almost within one minute, it was all gone.
TASTE: Unmistakably Volnay, but with a wild racy touch to it. Very young on the palate with vigorous fruit, somewhat assertive acidity and soft round tannins. Velvety elegant and stylish with good grip. Still a bit young an untamed, but potentially very fine.
LENGTH: Medium long aftertaste that carries over the fruit and the winyness.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium bodied expressive wine that shows punch and elegance at the time. Finely balanced but not yet completely harmonized.
OVERALL: Fine now but will no doubt improve with further cellaring.

MARK: 17.5/20.

BUY MORE? Yes.

Reach Me? yak@yakshaya.com

Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.