The 2020 Volnay Les Caillerets "Ancienne Cuvée Carnot" 1er Cru has a lively dark cherry, cranberry and mint-scented bouquet with light figgy aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a little chewiness on the entry but there is fine acidity and a cohesive peppery finish. It seems to firm up in the glass, implying it will require some bottle age.
Once again prominent wood stops just short of dominating the overtly spicy nose of cassis, black cherry, lavender and warm earth scents. There is excellent power and volume to the concentrated, intense and mouth coating mineral-driven flavors that culminate in an impressively long and balanced finish. This is a bigger wine than the Grèves and should amply reward mid-term cellaring.
From the heart of the appellation, this has a lot of violet-fruit aromas with a poached-cherry and red-plum core and deep-set spice notes, as well as chalky elements. The theme continues to a chalky texture from the limestone bedrock with fine, compressed tannins and bright red cherries.
This is showing well, opening in the glass with a complex bouquet of smoked meats, hoisin, wild berry fruit and spices. On the palate, the wine is medium bodied, delicate and precise, with racy acids, powdery tannins and impressive concentration despite its fine boned format, and its sappy expression of fruit is complemented by considerable savory nuance, concluding with a sappy finish.
The 2017 Volnay Les Caillerets 1er Cru (the first parcel purchased by the Bouchard family in 1775) has a well-defined, intense bouquet of black cherries, bilberry and light violet aromas. The medium-bodied palate is finely proportioned, offering crisp tannin, layers of pure blackberry, raspberry and brown spice, and a touch of truffle right on the finish.
This grand, voluptuous Volnay has structural tension that takes it beyond the bold impact of its fruit. Some panelists picked up a reductive scent, which may contribute to its youthful sense of tension. Air brings out scents of dark red cherries and cherry blossoms, while the fruit-skin tannins remain substantial: a traditional Burgundy, built for the long haul.
The 2017 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot is already extremely charming, bursting from the glass with a lavish bouquet of cassis, dried rose petals, coniferous forest floor and dark chocolate. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, supple and satiny, with an elegantly textural attack, a nicely concentrated core of fruit and lively acids, concluding with a precise, vibrant finish.
This a firm and pretty red with a solid tannin backbone to the medium body. Ripe fruit with some walnut, tobacco, and floral undertones. It's long and flavorful. Balance and firm. Classic style. Drink in 2025.
Cropped at a derisory 15 hectoliters per hectare, the quality of Bouchard's 2020 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot is some compensation for the lack of quantity. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berries, rose petals, plums, raw cocoa and orange rind, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and velvety, with powdery tannins, lively acids and a long, fragrant finish.
Bouchard produced only four barrels of the 2021 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot from fully three hectares, an especially derisory yield (equivalent to around five hectoliters per hectare), even in the context of the vintage, but the resulting wine is very good. Exhibiting notes of plums, dark berries, orange zest, peonies and spices, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and rich, with unusual concentration and a rather reserved, serious profile.
