2022 Volnay, En Caillerets, 1er Cru, Benjamin Leroux, Burgundy

Two thirds whole bunch and just 12.5% here. A lovely vibrant purple, full of energy. There is a sublime elegance to this on the nose, then a rather earthier dark fruit and a few tannins behind. One can see the suggestion of grand cru in the terroir of Caillerets compared to most other Volnay 1ers Crus.

Drink 2030 - 2038

The 2022 Volnay Les Caillerets 1er Cru contains more than two-thirds whole bunches, which is barely discernible on the pure nose graced with superb mineralité. The palate is medium-bodied with dark berry fruit. Here, one can tell the whole bunches contribution: a little stemmy, slightly Pommard-like style with a bell pepper-tinged finish. This will require time in bottle.

Leroux poured not his entire range of 50-odd cuvées…but most of them. “We started picking on August 26, and everything came in by September 5,” he tells me at his winery in Beaune, adjacent to the sprawling Albert Bichot buildings. “It was a pretty easy season after 2021, and we didn’t have stress in the vines compared to 2018 or 2019. There was just a bit in the lower parts of Savigny-lès-Beaune. Almost no sorting, chaptalization, acidification, or stuck fermentation was necessary. We use a pied de cuve from our vineyard to ensure all Saccharomyces. There is occasionally a lack of nitrogen in the vine, but you can correct that. We made four times as much wine for the whites: 40hL/ha instead of 10hL/ha in 2021.