2019 Bernard & Thierry Glantenay Volnay 1er Cru Les Brouillards

91-93pts William Kelley, Wine Advocate

The 2019 Volnay 1er Cru Les Brouillards is showing very well, bursting with notes of smoky berry fruit, plums and spices. Medium to full-bodied, gourmand and enveloping, with fine tannins and lively acids, it's a touch more dynamic than the similarly sensual 2018 rendition.

89-92pts Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy

Brouillards is one of the locations which needs managing carefully in the light of recent hot dry vintages. Pretty crimson purple but with a perfumed Volnay bouquet, a little softer behind with the oak present but not dominating. Length, some nuance but not quite the depth of flavour. Persistence fights back though.

Estate Summary

Thierry Glantenay is one of the humblest, most discreet winemakers I visited in Burgundy, but that shouldn't lead anyone to underestimate the quality of his wines, or the incremental but meaningful progress he makes every year. 2020's initiative was to end roganage (trimming the vines) by tractor: instead, Thierry now trims by hand, with shears, letting the canopies grow higher in emulation of his upstairs neighbor in Les Rugiens, Thomas Bouley. As I wrote last year, Glantenay prefers to let temperature and alcohol do the work of extraction for him, keeping pigéage and rémontage to a minimum. He presses gently, and élevage, without racking until the mise en bouteille, takes place in at most 30% new barrels. I'd nominate these 2019s as Glantenay's finest vintage since 2015, and they are very promising wines that still carry a much more modest tariff than a number of producers who don't work as well in the vineyards or the cellar.