2012 Volnay Santenots

(recently finished its malolactic fermentation; totally destemmed in 2012, although Rossignol noted that there wasn't much hail impact here): Good dark red. Very ripe aromas of cherry, mocha, chocolate and menthol. At once plush and delicate, with a subtle, high-pitched floral character and a rocky element lifting the raspberry and chocolate flavors. With its sound acidity and inner-mouth perfume, this should gain in complexity with bottle age. Not a particularly huge example of Santenots, which is routinely high in grape sugars. Rossignol owns 2.1 hectares in Santenots; he vinifies the two "extremes" separately and then combines them to make a single wine.

The 2012 Volnay 1er Cru Santenots comes from the lower part of the climat and is totally de-stemmed. It seems to have a higher proportion of red fruit than the Ronceret with a more conspicuous floral component. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy ripe tannins. Again, there is more red, earthy fruit here than Ronceret with a long, tightly wound, laconic finish that will come out of its shell once in bottle. I have been tasting the wines of Nicolas Rossignol for several years now, but this was the first time that I had visited him at the winery in Beaune that he shares with Benjamin Leroux. “I didn’t have enough space in Volnay where I was working with my father,” he explained. “My first vinification here was in 2011.” He now farms around 15 hectares of vine that have been handed down from his family. “My father is from Volnay and my mother Pernand,” he continued. “In 2002, when my grandfather was 89 years old, he said that he was going to sell the grapes to a negoce. I said ‘O.K. Then I will be your negoce’. Then in 2008, one of my uncles who also sold grapes to negoce said exactly the same thing. Most of his vineyards were next to my father’s and so I made the same deal with him, on the condition that I worked the vineyards like he had been doing. That was fine because I like to spend time in the vineyards. So now my grandparents’ and uncle’s vines go into the domaine’s wine. And now in this winery, I can do what I want, whereas before I did what I can.” In 2012, like so many producers, his vines were affected by the growing conditions and especially the hail, therefore he has had to blend some premier crus together because the quantities were simply too miniscule to bottle separately. “I lost a lot of grapes in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune,” he rued. One topic of conversation that kept arising was Nicolas’s approach to whole cluster ferments and to this end, I have detailed the percentages with respect to each barrel sample. “I like whole clusters,” he enthused. “It gives energy to wine. But it is not appropriate for all terroirs. For example I do not use whole clusters for ferrous soils because the energy comes from the terroir already.” Nicolas prefers punching down the fruit rather than pumping over and presses once the tannins are fully ripe, which he assesses on taste rather than analyzing the must. He opined that his 2012s will probably require an extended period in bottle, possibly up until August or September for some wines. Like many growers I spoke to, he eschews new oak and raises all the wines in 30% one-year-old barrels, 30% two-year-old and the remainder in older wood. These were generally excellent wines: taut, bursting with red fruit, very distinctive and respectful of their terroirs and brimming over with personality. The judicious application of oak allowed the vagaries of the fruit to be expressed, while lending the wines just enough body to give them structure and intensity. While most will be approachable in their youth, I believe that the premier crus will have a propensity to age in not dissimilar fashion to his 2010s. Importer: Becky Wasserman Selection (Le Serbet) and through various US importers (see www.leserbet.com for full list.)