The wines of Dominique Lafon are the wine equivalent of bespoke tailoring: Whether it’s a white from Meursault, the family’s signature, or a red from Volnay, like today’s, you are not getting off-the-rack Burgundy—you’re getting wine which, regardless of label, will be carefully rationed to loving homes around the world (luckily, ours is one of them).
At this point, Domaine des Comtes Lafon isn’t selling wine, it’s placing wine. It’s a nice position to be in, and it’s been hard-earned: Since taking over his family’s estate in the 1980s, at the tender age of 26, Dominique Lafon has been a Pied Piper of organic and biodynamic farming in tradition-bound Burgundy, convincing many others to follow his early example and eliminate chemicals from their vineyards. The phrase “great wine is made in the vineyard” has real meaning as applied to Lafon, and there’s no better example than today’s 2017 Volnay. It’s a pristine example of the most careful, hands-on vineyard stewardship imaginable, and there is, as you might expect from a producer of this level, more than meets the eye here: Although it carries a ‘village’ designation on its label, this wine is sourced from Lafon’s younger vines in two Volnay Premier Crus, “Santenots” and “Champans” (“young” being 20-30 years old, as opposed to close to 100 in some Lafon parcels of Champans). It is blue-chip Burgundy that is drinking well already and will continue to do so over the next decade—the only problem is quantity, of which there is very little. We can offer up to three bottles until our small allocation disappears!
But even the tiny parcel we received in better than what we got in 2016, which was none: Lafon did not produce the village Volnay in ’16 because Spring frosts so sharply reduced that season’s crop. As we’ve noted in other offers, 2017 was celebrated by Burgundian vignerons as one of quality and quantity, as this wine demonstrates: It is already silky and enjoyable at this young stage in its life, which could be a little dangerous because in 5-7 years it’s going to be absolute magic. All I can say is try to hold on to at least one!
The Santenots Premier Cru is an interesting site: It is situated in the village of Meursault and is planted to both red and white grapes; the reds fall under the red-specific Volnay appellation, the whites under Meursault. The soils of the site riff on the classic clay/limestone mix, showing a reddish tint that indicates a high iron content. In most Burgundy experts’ minds, Santenots and Champans—the latter a perfectly positioned, mid-slope parcel with a favorable southeastern aspect—are the two most famous single vineyards in Volnay. And here they both are, unmentioned on the label but infusing this 2017 with more depth and complexity than anyone would expect from a ‘village’ wine. The vinification of this wine is effectively the same as for the Premier Cru reds, with fermentation on native yeasts in stainless steel followed by aging in one-third new French barriques. The Lafon reds are mostly de-stemmed to bring the fruit component to the fore; there are rarely if ever any rough edges to these wines. As naturally made as they are, they are also immaculately clean.
When I look at the spare, elegant Lafon label—regardless of the bottling—there are certain things I’m conditioned to expect: exceptional fruit purity; silken texture; and precision. Today’s 2017 Volnay does not disappoint in any of those departments. In the glass, it displays a dark ruby core moving to garnet and pink at the rim, with seductive aromas of blackberries, wild strawberries, cherry kirsch, violets, black tea, dark chocolate, and underbrush. It is medium-plus in body and pleasingly plump on the palate thanks to ripe, soft tannins. Bright and balanced acidity lends it a kind of weightlessness that only the very best red Burgundies manage to deliver, so whenever you decide to open one—I’d say one now; one in 3 years; and one in 5 years—decant it 45 minutes before serving in your best Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees. If you enjoy game birds, that’d be a great way to go with the pairing, or if you’d rather stay more in the center lane, go with stuffed chicken or—dare I say it—Thanksgiving turkey. The attached recipe for confit need not be Thanksgiving-specific if you’re not inclined to wait. Cheers!
