1996 Michel Lafarge Volnay

The style of winemaking at the Domaine is very traditional. The grapes are picked, sorted, delivered by horse to the winery and then de-stemmed; for some vineyards by hand. The grapes then typically spend about two weeks on the skins for primary fermentation before they are gently pressed. After pressing, the wine is moved to tank for about 24 hours (debourbage) to allow the gross less to settle out. The wines are then put into barrel and very little, if any new barrels are used on any of their wines. Wines then spend 16-18 months in wood and are rarely, if ever, racked. Their cellar is very small and has extremely low ceilings, which makes moving the wines around for no reason, a fools errand. Everything here is done with great intention and is a result of decades of tireless intrepidation. Lafarge’s range of begins with the Volnay villages; selected from nine parcels of old vines throughout the village, it is a beautifully balanced expression of the appellation’s inherent strength al