In 2001 d’Angerville lost up to 70% of the production in some vineyards due to hail and subsequent sorting to weed out the damaged grapes. His net yields averaged less than 25hl/ha, which is seriously low. How did M. d’Angerville sum up the 2001 experience? “It was a difficult year.” Quite.
[image image_id=”2090″ align=”left”]Volnay Premier Cru Champans 2001, Marquis d’Angerville
A pure nose of focussed fruit, very strawberry. It is a bit light and lacking depth, sadly, more anaemic than elegant. I’d hope for a few more aromatic jollies on the nose from a d’Angerville but clearly this is asking too much from this difficult vintage. The palate has plenty of that strawberry fruit, but hints of a dried-out, raisin character which is not terribly attractive. The acidity also seems a bit spiky, so the basic message we are getting is that this is not the most refined, balanced of palates. Bit of a pity, really, even the mighty d’Angerville sometimes does not reach stellar heights. That being said, this wine is not sub-interest; it speaks just enough about its place of origin, and much about the vintage, to engage the engrossed drinker of Burgundy. Drink as soon as possible before it loses its remaining charm.
I picked this up at a bargain price in the January sales (all gone now, sorry); its normal £30-40 price range would be too much for this wine. The partner tells me he views the [link2post id=”258″]recently popped Mac Forbes Pinot[/link2post] as better wine at a better price. Much as I hate to be down on a d’Angerville, he is probably right.
The heraldic device on the d’Angerville labels is most fun:
[image image_id=”2091″ size=”medium”]
David,
Thanks for taking a hit for the cause. This is disappointing news as I have some 01 Clos Des Ducs that I was looking forward to in a few years. I might have to try it out sooner rather than later.
Do you think that there is any chance that these 01s are just shut down at the moment?
Cheers,
Will
Hello Will,
Alan ‘Burghound’ Meadows slightly prefers the Clos des Ducs to the Champans, but both are really damned with faint praise, alas. Sorry to be the bearer of unhappy news but I don’t think your 01 d’Angervilles will ever blow your socks off (as one, quite rightly, expects them to).
It would be wishful thinking to say this wine was closed and will blossom given time. I’m afraid, and more than a little unhappy, to say that this is just a poor vintage from d’Angerville. Such a difficult year in Volnay (and the Cote de Beaune more generally); Monsieur Pousse d’Or declassified all of his Volnay 01 1er Crus to village level so vexed was he with the quality of the vintage.
As far as I have experienced there is one stand-out wine that bucked the trend for 01 Cote de Beaune wines: Pommard Clos des Epeneaux from Comte Armand. Damned good and damned serious wine by any definition of the word. The last bottle I popped a year ago was clearly too young but delivered the ‘quality Burgundy’ goods in spades (much as it did when tasted at the winery and also two years ago). Even the usually epic, intense de Courcel Pommard 1er Crus made by the somewhat curmudgeonly Yves Confuron are thin and pale next to this wine.
Of course, we know there are many top bunny 2001s from the Cote de Nuits.
Cheers,
David.