2018 Volnay Clos de Verseuil 1er Cru

It is always a pleasure to meet winemakers again, but even more so with respect to Clerget since I had heard that Thibaud contracted Covid earlier this year. Thankfully he recovered, even though he told me that three months later his taste is yet to return 100%. “It is one of my favourite vintages,” Clerget told me as I broached his 2019s. “There was a lot of millerandage and I lost 50% of production during flowering. For the younger vines of Santenots there was a little grillure_ during the summer and are planted on 161-49 rootstock that are dying [N.B This issue is broached in the second part of this report.] They will be pulled up soon. The 2019 vintage is the first vintage where I farmed organically, the first of three years in conversion that I am doing for myself, not for certification. The harvest began on 12 September and then we picked over the next five days compared to the starting date of 22 August, in 2020. We had a sorting table, then did a cold fermentation for 5 to 10 days and started the alcoholic fermentation using natural yeasts. We did just one or two pigeages for all the cuvaison, and then one or two remontage per day, plus one délestage. I find the wines very fresh and elegant, not with too much alcohol since I started on the optimal day. The maximum alcohol is 13.8° and they are mostly around 13.4°. The 2019 vintage is more an infusion vintage - we didn’t need to touch the grapes. All the reds were racked a month ago and I will probably bottle this December instead of later in March as the wines seem ready.” This was an excellent set of 2019s that will enhance Clerget’s reputation as one of Pommard’s go-to producers, even though his holdings lean more towards neighbouring Volnay! The highlights comprise yet another superb Clos Vougeot, a stunning Volnay Clos de Verseuil from Clerget’s monopole and an excellent Volnay Les Caillerets. These wines are extremely pure, beautifully poised but in keeping with the style of 2019, intense. I also tasted through Clerget’s bottled 2018s that are also impressive, and it will be intriguing to see which of the two vintages ultimately comes out on top. My hunch is both.

I had heard a lot about winemaker Thibault Clerget in recent years, though this was the first time that I visited his winery in Pommard. The winery here actually belonged to his great uncle, Felix Clerget, and Yves prefers making his wines here instead of his father’s winery in Volnay. I can understand why. It is a slightly shabby but pretty, quite atmospheric winery decorated with statues of St. Vincent and a beautiful double wooden door, carved in the 1950s by an ancestor, a tableau depicting various winemaking scenes. "The first generation of the Clerget family to make wine was in 1268," Clerget told me. "I am the 28th generation. The last vintage of my father was 2009 and in 2010 and 2014 he sold the grapes to other domaines. I came back to the domaine in 2015 after studying at the Lycée Viticole, at Geisen in New Zealand, with Charles Van Canneyt (at Hudelot-Noëllat) for two years and at Drouhin in Oregon. There are currently six hectares of the domaine with one white under my négoce label." I asked about the tenets he applies. He told me: "We need to distinguish the terroirs. I focus on small yields, 30-to 35-hl/ha is the best, using less treatments in the vineyard. However I don’t look for any certification. All the 2018s were racked one month ago and will be bottled in January, the élevage 12 months in barrel and 4 months in tank. I am using the Chassin cooperage for the whites and for the reds, Tremeaux and Rousseau." I absolutely adored Clerget’s 2018s. I would go as far to say that here I found some of the finest expressions of Volnay, wines surfeit with purity, terroir expression, vibrant fruit and at times, quite ethereal levels of precision - remarkable given the type of growing season. Some of the cuvées are very limited in production, down to a barrel in a couple of cases, but do whatever you can to get hold of one. Who’s to bet against Yves Clerget’s name ranking alongside the likes of Lafarge in the future? Maybe it already does.