2016 Volnay Clos de Verseuil 1er Cru

Thibaud Clerget took over winemaking duties at the family domain with vintage 2015; his father Yvon had retired in 2009 and in the intervening years the estate sold fruit from its six hectares of vines to Henri Boillot (Thibaud apprenticed at Boillot and at Hudelot-Noëllat, and has also worked at Domaine Drouhin Oregon and at Giesen Estate in New Zealand).

Thibaud, who is still not yet 30 years old, told me that he has “totally changed everything.” He practices “la lutte raisonnée” (i.e., "the reasoned struggle," which means that he's not technically organic but makes very sparing use of chemical products) and carries out a cold soak lasting seven to ten days at about 8 degrees C. before the fermentations begin. He vinified the 2015s in wood cuves but switched to thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks in 2016. (In 2017, he experimented with whole clusters with his Clos Vougeot but he’s not convinced that his wines from Volnay can support vinification with stems.) And he quickly made the decision to shorten élevage from the previous 16 or 17 months to just 12, while bumping up the percentage of new oak from the 10% his father used to 20% to 25%.

Clerget told me that he made just half of a normal crop in 2015 due to the summer's drought and to hail the previous year. The pHs ranged as high as 3.7, but Clerget considers this a millésime de garde, with a blacker fruit character than 2016 and at least 10 or 15 years of aging potential. But the young ‘16s here are more detailed, nuanced, sophisticated wines with captivating silky richness. Clerget started harvesting on September 22 in '16, beginning with his severely frosted vines in Volnay Santenots, with grape sugars in the healthy 12.5% to 13% range. He lost between 50% and 60% of his crop overall, including all of his Bourgogne. And he made just 7 barrels of village Volnay, vs. a normal 25. Clerget told me that he did not use grapes from the second buds as they didn’t ripen properly. He did a bit less pigeage in 2016, as the color was easy to extract. This is clearly a talented young winemaker to follow, and the estate has some superb holdings.

Thibaud Clerget's 2016s pick up right where the superb 2015s left off. There is only one problem. Production is down sharply, as all of Clerget's parcels (with the exception of the Volnay Clos de Verseuil) suffered frost damage. I tasted all the 2016s from tank prior to bottling, which is scheduled for March/April 2018. Readers who have not tasted these wines yet owe it to themselves to do so, as Clerget has all the passion, talent and skill to be one of the next generation of superstar vignerons in Burgundy. - Antonio Galloni