Tag Archives: volnay

(Small) Guide to Burgundy

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After spending a few days in Burgundy this summer, and a few days some years ago, I’ve put together a few tips and suggestions for anyone who is thinking about visiting this beautiful wine region.

Where to Stay

I always stay in Beaune. A relatively big town, compared to the other small ones like Volnay or Mersault, it has everything you’ll need, along with some pretty great restaurants. Many Airbnb’s are scattered over the city, as well as many different hotels. Depends on your price range and wishes, of course, but you’ll most likely find a place that suits your needs.

A place I can highly recommend is Beaune Duplex Maison du Bastion 4, found on Airbnb. Beautiful garden, nice rooms, kitchen and parking. There are also multiple apartments, so larger groups can fit nicely here.

Where to Eat

Here are some of my go-to places for lunch and dinner:

Caves Madeleine
Le Bistrot Bourguignon
Ma Cuisine
La Sufflot
Volnaysien

Wineries

Now, Burgundy is busting with wineries. Of all sizes, shapes and forms. We all have different tastes and preferences, and mine might vary drastically from yours. But here are some of my favorite winemakers in the area.

Michel Lafarge
Joseph Voillot
Domaine Dujac
Comte Liger-Belair
Benjamin Leroux
Matrot

Wine Shopping (the best kind of shopping)

If you’re looking to buy wine in Burgundy, here are some of the best places (in my opinion) to find great wines.

Mes Bourgognes Beaune
Cavon de Bacchus, Nuits St George
Caveau de Puligny Montrachet
Caveau Chassagne Montrachet

“Sightseeing”

One thing I recommend everyone to do, is to just explore. These small towns are filled with beautiful streets, buildings and “landmarks”. You can take a stroll down “Rue de La Tache”, or walk to the famous Romanee-Conti vineyard or take the “obligatory” picture with the cross. So much history and so many great wines. It’s paradise for us wine lovers. And I can’t wait to go back!

Joseph Voillot

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A secret in Volnay

Prices in Burgundy are soaring, but there are still some very good producers flying under the radar, with prices relatively low. One of these producers is Joseph Voillot.

A stonethrow away from another great producer, Michel Lafarge, you’ll find the Voillot family. At the moment it is Etienne and his uncle who run things. Don’t ask me about the family intricacies of families in Bourgogne. It’s too complicated. But the bottom line is that the Voillot winery is a family winery.

2017 – a normal vintage

The new vintage released is the 2017. 2017 was a normal year, no frost damage, no hail damage – so what they would call a normal year. There was some frost and hail, but not out of the ordinary and not as damaging as 2016. To combat the frost 2017 they used smoke, as you’ve probably seen in the pictures.

Joseph Voillot makes about 12 different wine, we tried 10 of the. Pardon my spelling, I did my best:
Bourgogne Aligoté
Mersault Les Chevaliers
Mersault Les Cras
Bourgogne Vielles Vigne
Pommard Vielles VIgne
Beaune aux Coucherias
Volnay Les Fremiets
Volnay Les Champans
Pommard Les Pezerolles
Pommard Les Rugiens

My Voillot Favorites

In all honesty, all the wines were good. Voillot makes wines with incredible passion, hard work and meticulous attention to detail. For them, the most important part of winemaking is the fruit. They destem the grapes, instead of using whole cluster, because they believe it takes away from the fruit. They work diligently in the vineyard to make sure that when the harvest comes along, the fruit is perfect.

Among the 10 wines we tasted, my favorites were the Bourgogne Vielles Vigne 2017, Beaune aux Coucheries 2017 and the Volnay Les Fremiets 2017. Out of all the wines, these (for me) were the most elegant and very easy to drink. I think in a few years, (5-10) the Volnay Les Champans will be incredible! So many good options to chose from!

Joseph Voillot

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During my visit to Beaune this summer, Joseph Voillot was my first visit. It was funny because I emailed them thinking I would probably get the same response as I’d been getting from all other producers saying: “we are closed, we do not take visits”, etc etc. However, he replied that we were welcome to visit and voila: he was penciled in.

I walked around Volnay looking for him, first at what looked like the wine cellar and then at what looked like his house. I rang the bell and a woman (I think maybe his mother) opened. In my terribly limited french I tried to explain I had an appointment. She disappeared into the house and a few minutes later Mr. Voillot was there!

Joseph Voillot

He came directly from the vineyards in his tractor. He lead the way through this very tiny door into a small tasting room. There I tasted through his wines while we had a strange conversation in french/english/gibberish. It’s not easy carrying on a conversation when neither speaks the others language. But we managed and I actually learned a little more about wine. It was a truly fantastic experience and I hope to meet him again soon.

 

Michel Lafarge

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It’s not as easy to get visits with winemakers in Beaune as it is in Barolo, but I was lucky enough to get us in at Michel Lafarge. Personally I do not have a lot of experience with the wines, but I follow the family and winery on social media and know a little about them through there. We were greeted by Frédéric Lafarge, who along with his father now runs the winery. The first thing he did was take us into the vineyards, which has to be one of my favorite things to do when I visit a winery.

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yes While in the vineyard he explained the idea of the Clos, as he has his own Clos “Clos du Château des Ducs”. For those who do not know, it just means that it’s a “monopoly” vineyard that is fenced in. He also tried to show us some mildew, as it is a problem in certain years, but luckily for him and his wines he could not find any.

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Inside the winery in the cellar we tasted quite a few wines, both from barrel and bottle. What I find interesting about wine tasting in Bourgogne is that you stand up the whole time. In Barolo, you almost always sit down, at least for part of the tasting. In honesty I don’t remember all the wines we tasted, as I forgot to write it down and was unable to take pictures because we tasted directly from the barrel, but the wines were very good! And I hope to come back and visit again!

Volnay

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I have arrived in Bourgogne and I spent the first half of today in Volnay. It started with a winery visit with Joseph Voillot. Legendry. He spoke no english and my french is about as good as my mandarin, but we made it through and tasted some very good wines.

Lunch was incredible. We ended up at Le Cellier Volnaysien at the reccomendation of Mr. Voillot. His favorites were the poached eggs and Coq au vin. We did not try the egg, but my three companions (my family) had the Coq au vin and it was very good! We tried one of his white wines, Mersault Les Cras, and it was very good!

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So far the trip to Bourgogne has been very good! Hopefully the next visits will be just as fun!