Not what it needed where it needed it

When it comes to de Montille wines, historically the real bum-biters were the Volnays and Pommards. Yes, now they have expanded their range the Nuits Aux Thorey and Vosne Malconsorts (and especially their La Tache-cuvée) are very good; however the Pommards and Volnays will always have a special place in my heart.

It is not just that they are fabulously beautiful. It is because they have always been fabulously beautiful, involute delights that, not too long ago, I could easily afford. This is the only Volnay Premier Cru I have left after the pillage and rape of my Burgundian cellar; the only problem with it is I do not remember the de Montille 2007s being great successes apart from when they were very young. We shall see…

Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 2007 from de MontilleVolnay Premier Cru Taillepieds 2007, Domaine de Montille

Highly attractive nose, all that elegant, softly maturing fruit is truly callipygian in aspect. Smells nicely mature, squeaky clean and so complex I would have to start talking about string theory in order to encapsulate its manifestly glorious nose.

However, there is a vaguely distracting touch of greenness on the nose and (I am fully aware people say you cannot do this, but that is because their tasting skills are pretty dismal;) it smells to me like it is going to be (Swedish construction) shit-acidic.

It may not be a problem if all the delicious fruit from the nose has parked all its articulated lorries around the roundabouts of time, so nothing has had the chance to escape or diminish. We live in hope that its French bloody mindedness, both from the winemaker making it structured to age and from the wine itself transcending what is a nice, but not great vintage.

Piss. It is really distinctly acidic. There are shade of elegant fruit and silky tannins to it, but clearly age has paid off all the hauliers except the acid truck drivers, allowing them to disappear into a distant shadow of what I remember was a libidinousness youth, packed with sexy, saucy, spanky delights. Only the acid is blocking the road allowing no hope of balance ever being achieved whilst they stubbornly remain immovable during the passage of time; making your palate and teeth sting as they blow their acidic air horns to signify that only they remain.

In more technical terms, this wine has lost its fresh, fruity fun characteristics of life, and acid rarely reduces as a wine ages, so that is all that is left. It is disjointed and totally lacking harmony. It is not really doing it for me in my pleasure centres (pick any one of the multitude you fancy). Move along, please, there is nothing to see here.

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