Chanson Père et Fils - Volnay 2011

Founded in 1750 by Simon Verry and acquired by the Bollinger Group in the late 1990s, the oldest of the Beaune houses owns 45 hectares of vineyards located in the premier crus of both the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits. The house’s red wines are primarily made from purchased grapes, vinified by the house to maintain stylistic consistency with the estate. Brilliantly managed from a technical standpoint by Jean-Pierre Confuron (since 2001), this estate has become a model of viticulture, having introduced plowing, eliminated soil amendments, and adopted organic viticulture. Chanson’s wines retain a very high proportion of stems during both white and red winemaking. The guiding principle is balance within tension. The whites are transferred to barrels with as much lees as possible to ensure a reductive character throughout their 14- to 20-month aging in barrels (20% new oak). The reds, whose Pinot grapes are brought to optimal ripeness, retain a vibrant structure of tannins and acidity and are characterized by fleshy fruit with underlying notes of sweet spices and licorice. These wines, in both red and white, deserve a few years of aging.

Founded in 1750 and owned by Bollinger since 1999, this classic Beaune estate has now fully established its identity and style. It rivals the very best thanks to its precise and pure wines, both white and red. Vincent Avenel has taken the reins of the estate, succeeding Gilles de Courcel, to whom we owe its revitalization. A state-of-the-art winemaking facility and the expert guidance provided through June 2020 by Jean-Pierre Confuron—both in the vineyard and in winemaking—explain the clarity of expression found across the estate’s broad range of wines up through the 2019 vintage, a vintage in which we detect subtle aging notes in certain cuvées, though these are a notch below those of previous vintages. We’ll wait to taste the 2020s in bottle to judge whether this great estate is moving in the right direction with its new team.