Decanted
Hubert & Etienne de Montille
(Volnay)
De Montille is one of the most respected Domains in Volnay, and probably the most straight forward one. Beside the beautiful old estate there is a garden with a huge old maple tree, its unique appearance is its stem which consists of several stems. But the biggest part of his garden is covered with vines that then definitely grow in the middle of Volnay.
During our visit the vintage 2001 already was in the big open wooden cuvées in which the wine is processed - the so called 'Pigeage'.
Etienne de Montille who now, after his father, is completely responsible for the wine making pays particular attention to the fact that the grapes should not be damaged when they are filled into the cuvées . His opinion is that the fermentation process needs much more time and therefore more fine aromas are extracted.
Wines from Montille are extraordinary and unique. They need long maturing time and Etienne de Montille recommends that his wines should be decanted in time before consuming them.
We tasted Montille's best known examples of Volnays and Pommards from the wood. Etienne de Montille filled the glasses in the cellar in which we didn't stay for degustation, because it had at that moment an alarming CO2-concentration (when we entered it we soon were short of breath).
reds:
Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 2000 (from the wood)
Cherry colour, still with slight blue tones. Very closed. Wood tones (perhaps from the stalks, not from the barrel), not to strong tannins. Long finish.
Pommard 1er Cru Rugiens 2000 (from the wood)
Darker (dark cherry with violet tones). Sweetness; stronger. Still some wood tones, too. Dark apple skins. Very closed. More intense than the Taillepieds, which is finer nevertheless - as we expected.
In order to have a comparison how the Montille-wines develop we tasted the 1995.
Volnay 1er Cru Champans 1995
Rather dark. In the fragrance cooked fruit, plum, spices, pepper, a bit of wood. Warm and long.
Etienne de Montille thinks that the 1995 is going to open up earlier than expected.
white:
Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets 1999
Montille has only one white wine from one of the best Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru climate which reaches Grand Cru quality.
Light yellow. Very good, full nose with aromas of flowers. In the mouth good acidity, citric fruit and acacia. Very long and already very good, although all components aren't integrated by now. A great Chardonnay which definitely need still a few years for maturing. But now it also is so fine that you hardly can keep it. Etienne de Montille is very content with this wine, but still tries to improve it in the next few years by giving it more depth.
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