2008 Volnay Fremiets

Charlot’s 2008 Volnay Les Fremiets required a serious shaking to remove obstructive excess CO2, leaving the wine in circumstances where it needs to be given the benefit of a doubt. Dark cherry, tamarind, and cardamom emerge on the nose and on a palate where cherry pit dominates over fruit flesh. A contrast between bright, tart-edged berry fruit and forest floor low tones makes for an interesting finish. This will be well worth revisiting within a year of bottling and probably merit following for at least 8-10 years. ”The domaines that work seriously and well in their vineyards are the ones who succeeded in 2006, 2007, and 2008,” maintains Jean-Pierre Charlot’s, who claims to have been pleasantly surprised not to have encountered significant problems with mildew, oidium, or botrytis in 2008. His 2007s are unusually successful in the context of that vintage, with which he draws parallels to 2009 in that he thinks later harvest at the expense of freshness and early, weak malo that left wines vulnerable during elevage were significant potential pitfalls. When it comes to difficult conditions and problematic results, he insists, none of the subsequent vintages should be compared with 2004. As usual at this address, Charlot was happy to have obtained potential alcohol levels of 12-12.5% in both 2007 and 2008, which he then lightly boosted. His 2008 collection – in which the Pommards, unusually in my experience at Voillot, outshone the Volnays – was due to have been bottled within 2-3 weeks after I tasted it in March. Importer: Vintage 59, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 966-9218