2005 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes 1er Cru
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Tasting notes
This brooding effort continues to evolve slowly but surely with its beautifully elegant and highly complex nose of extract of dark berry fruit that is just now displaying some hints of secondary fruit and lovely complexity. The big-bodied, serious and robust flavors are still moderately firm and impressively concentrated, all wrapped in a palate drenching finish where the copious dry extract imparts a velvety texture to the strikingly long finale where the only nit is a hint of warmth. While this is not so tight and structured that it could not be enjoyed now, at least with 30 minutes or so of air, it would not surprise me if this turned out to be a 50+ year wine. Tasted thrice since release with consistent notes.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Full ruby-red. Pure, complex but restrained nose offers blackberry, black cherry, licorice, spices and black pepper. Wonderfully intense and vibrant, with a compellingly chewy texture and great thrust to the highly concentrated dark fruit and bitter chocolate flavors. The fine-grained tannins spread out to saturate the palate of this powerfully structured Volnay, with the wine's perfume lingering in the mouth for minutes. I asked Frederic when the estate last made a Clos des Chenes as good as this, and he replied that it's the best since the '61. Extended bottle aging may well bring an even higher rating. Volnay doesn't get much better than this.
Big and brooding on the nose. Beefy with lots of ripe fruit – this should make exciting old bones but was playing a bit hard to get when I tasted it. Some raciness underneath but mainly very big and chewy, youthful and taut. Distinctly muscular though with wonderfully haunting aromas on the finish. It may well eventually overtake the Caillerets. (JR)