2009 - Volnay 1er Cru Les Taillepieds, Domaine de Montille

The 2009 Volnay Taillepieds is all about minerality and sheer energy. It shows fabulous textural richness in its dark red fruit, not to mention a highly engaging personality. This is a very complete and promising wine, but it needs time. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029. Etienne de Montille began harvesting on September 5 in 2009 in order to maintain as much freshness as possible. Natural alcohols came in between 12.7% and 13.2% slightly higher than the range de Montille prefers. My sense is that some of the entry-level 2009s could have used a touch more density, but the higher end wines are quite successful across the board. The 2009s were aged on their lees and were not racked until they were prepared for bottling, which began in September 2010, the first time de Montille had bottled 1er Crus before the following harvest. I tasted most of the 2009s from tank, where they were settling before bottling. De Montille did not plan to fine or filter any of the wines in tank. Readers will find additional notes on the estate’s 2008s on www.erobertparker.com. Various American Importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808

Scented and fresh with a strange herbal streak. Relatively light for a 2009. Quite distinctive with a hit of buckwheat. Still quite dry and chewy. Neat. But you’d have to like those particular, very distinctive flavours. Still pretty chewy. (JR)