2006 Volnay Taillepieds

The de Montille 2006 Volnay Les Taillepieds – not yet bottled when I last tasted it – leads with smoky pungency and bittersweet black fruits; offers meaty depth and underlying stoniness; and displays a brightness, concentration, and finishing grip that transcend the Beaunes and other Volnays that preceded it in this year's collection. With these virtues comes a site-typical, palpable presence of tannin – fine-grained, though, and well woven into the wine's myriad mineral, carnal, and fruit strands. And for all of its structure and underlying density, this displays levity and considerable sheer refreshment in its uplifting finish. It should be worth following for the better part of a decade. Domaine de Montille – for more about whose generational change and impressive recent expansion consult my report in issue 171 – has now completed the renovation of old cellars in Meursault that house in addition to the estate's wines those of Deux Montilles, the white wine negociant project of siblings Etienne and Alix de Montille (for a report on which, see my issue 186 coverage of 2007 vintage white Burgundies). The de Montilles began picking in Volnay on September 25, followed by harvest of Pommard, Corton, and then Beaune. "The sugar levels were around 13% potential alcohol and they kept going up," reports Etienne de Montille, "but I didn't taste that much difference in the ripeness of the fruit." Meanwhile, rot was threatening, and diligent triage as well as gentle, watchful vinification followed. But de Montille – who sees the vintage as combining aspects of 2000 and 2002 – persisted in his recent fidelity to whole-clusters and stem inclusion, with the top cuvees hovering around 50% vendange entier. Incidentally, de Montille had the estate's new cellars scrupulously searched and tested for signs of TCA; has installed a system for removing chlorine from the water used there; and (in a move that will affect an even larger portion of the production at Chateau de Puligny, which he directs) will be employing DIAM composite corks for the bottling of several (relatively) less-expensive wines, starting with vintage 2008. Various importers, including Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040; also, a Thomas Calder Selection, Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29