Domaine Joseph Voillot Volnay Les Champans Premier Cru 2020

Les Champans is a top-notch, Premier Cru site in Volnay revered for its old-vines, and pristine limestone soils. Joseph Voillot’s stunning 2020 received the exact same score from Vinous as the iconic Domaine des Comtes Lafon for the same vineyard and vintage… but for far, far less! We have just over three cases – don’t delay!

Domaine Joseph Voillot is a small but long standing Burgundy producer that has been farming the family parcels for over six generations. Their home base is in Volnay, just a few miles outside of Beaune, though they craft wines from a total of 13 separate regions within Burgundy and farm just over 8 hectares of their own vines.

This wine hails from the domaine’s largest Premier Cru holding, some 4+ acres of vines – including some old vines planted as far back as 1934! This site – made from a unique series of Oxfordian limestone – is lower on the slope than most other Premier Cru sites nearby, granting the wines from here a particular power and fruity intensity for Volnay. The wine is robust and powerful, with full flavors and aromas of black cherries, raspberries, and blueberries, alongside elements of orange peel and Earl Grey tea. There’s considerable concentration and structure here – rather full-bodied in style, and a layered complexity that carries this into a long and satisfying finish. Four years from harvest has this just starting to show its potential, with easily a decade plus yet to come of pristine development in bottle. We’ll say again – this bottling competes favorably with wines that are twice the price… our only wish is that we could have more to share!

FOOD PAIRINGS: I served this alongside a couple of stuffed quails – filled with a finely diced mix of portabella mushrooms, sauteed onions, chestnuts, and sourdough cubes. A little port wine sauce, with a knob of butter, and then some braised Swiss chard on the side… it was a hit!

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Burgundy and Blues can be a pretty awesome mix. Case in point: a glass of this and the smooth stylings of Stevie Ray Vaughan crushing the guitar in the background. Check out “Texas Flood” to put it to the test!