The big daddy of Volnay!
The Buffet holdings in this prestigious vineyard amount to 0.95 hectares, over two plots: one parcel is over 80 years old, the other 54 years old (the same age as Marc-Olivier, incidentally).
Lay and Wheeler
This is arguably the greatest site in Volnay. Marc-Olivier is lucky to have two parcels here. The ‘young vines’ are a mere 50 years old, and the old vines even more venerable. This year the grapes are totally destemmed and there is a natural concentration and complexity from the old vines offering small, tight bunches. The wine has a beautiful, sinewy structure with accents of cherry blossom and detailed hedgerow fruit on the finish. Refreshing and very fine.
The 2023 Volnay Clos des Chênes 1er Cru has a delineated and focused bouquet with a discrete floral element. Its pure red fruit notes gain intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and nicely poised with grainy tannins, gentle grip and a slight lactic note toward the finish that will be subsumed. Very fine. (Drink between 2026-2044). 91-93 Points
Lyle Fass Selections, Delectable
Glory is this wine. Just one of the best wines in Burgundy now. After the 22 I had large expectations and this surpassed them. Nose is just bananas. Not literal bananas. The other type of bananas. The most complex cherry diaspora. Sour, mid season, late season and black. Spice galore and florals up the wazoo. Earth, limestone, dead leaves, living leaves and wet leaves. The nose is a 9.8 on the pop and pour. Just insane. Wild mint. What stands out the most is the layering and the clarity. Also the breadth. Wow that inner mouth perfume and endless, boundless energy that has the same fruit energy as La Tache. What I mean by that is this wine, yes can be about minerals as CDC is rocky, but man the fruit in 22 and now 23 is just in another register. Sappy, poised and clear as the sky is blue on a cloudless day. Yes the tannins are firm but you know with air they will melt into the fruit. The nobility of this site never fails to blow me away. Unreal concentration and density and just insane length. The tannins are velvety, sweet and intense but so so high class. Nose has so much florality, spice and red cherry fruit one cannot believe it. This is just insane. It’s almost a perfect wine. The balance is just beyond and the structure is incredible. This is a 50 year CDC. What a finish. Let’s see where this goes. After an hour the nose is remarkable. So deep, so nuanced, so spicy, so floral. Provocative. Palate is silky, sweet and so dense. Pumps the fruit out like an old set of Wilson Puppies. Unreal balance and purity. But this is built like a brick house. Let’s see where this goes. Will unfurl more but it’s a slow one! The concentration and tiny berry fruit intensity is off the charts. Now after 17 hours open its nose is full blown complex and flat out stunning. The cherry trifecta of sour/mid season and black. Mint and bramble plus wonderful and gorgeous sous bois. Stoney as well. All velvety bramble and such elegant and ripe tannin. A wave. Stunning inner mouth aromas, tiny berry fruit intensity and stunning purity. This seems like it’s more classic than the 22. Even on day 3 this is stunning. Lost nothing. 9.8/10
Tamlyn Currin, Jancis Robinson
Full bottle 1,369 g. 18 months in oak barrels. Light oak spiciness and faint rose petals on the nose. The fruit is very much taking its cue from the oak at the moment and holding well back, although the wine is lip-smackingly juicy. And those tannins, while artlessly raw right now, are limber and seductively long. Rose hips and raspberries, autumn leaves and walnuts and a great swathe of blood-orange sweet-tart acidity flooding the finish. (Drink between 2028-2040). 17/20
Bright ruby in colour. Fragrant red fruits (raspberry and wild strawberry), baking spices, rose petal and minerals on the nose. The palate is delightfully medium bodied and notes of wild forest, vanilla and mint appear. It builds in the glass. The wine finishes long with citric, tangy acidity and a hint of liquorice. There is some oak but the concentrated fruit climbs all over it. A little time and it will meld into the wine and provide the defining tannins such a majestic wine requires. Serious and structured, this is a wine for the cellar.
