Volnay Santenots du Milieu 1er cru 2008 Domaines des Comtes Lafon

Avis professionnels

Robert Parker (90)

Lafon’s 2008 Volnay Santenots du Milieu smells of fresh blackberry mingled with kirsch and white pepper, which follow on a bright, pungent palate strongly marked by the chew of fruit skin and by black tea- and bark-like tannins. This finishes strongly, if a bit obstreperously, but increasing distance from its late malo may well permit it to display more richness. I would cellar it only with regular monitoring to see how the tannins evolve, but even in its youth it is sure to display considerable talent as a red meat accompaniment.

Dominique Lafon’s vineyards were hit hard by the July, 2008 hail, with his largest site – Santenots du Milieu – worst hit, and reduced in production by two-thirds, all of which he bottled together, rather than (as more usually) declassifying the young vines portion to village Volnay. Crop loss was due to dehydration as well, a factor compounded by late harvest. (“But before October,” relates Lafon, “the fruit simply was not ripe.”) Lafon’s chagrin – coming on the heels of two challenging vintages for Pinot – was more than assuaged, though, by the superb quality of his Meursaults in both 2007 and 2008 (on which I shall report soon in these pages).