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domaine-michel-lafarge

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Michel Lafarge

Overview

One of Volnay’s great estates, now run by Frédéric Lafarge. Biodynamic farming. Key premier crus: Clos des Chênes, Clos du Château des Ducs. The benchmark for elegant, age-worthy Volnay.

Appellations

Key Wines

  • Volnay “Clos des Chênes” (1er cru) — the domaine’s most famous wine; structured, age-worthy
  • Volnay “Clos du Château des Ducs” (1er cru monopole) — adjacent to the Angerville château
  • Volnay “Champans” (1er cru)
  • Village Volnay and Bourgogne level wines (including excellent Aligoté)

Style Notes

Frédéric Lafarge maintains the domaine’s tradition of perfumed elegance balanced by structural depth. Biodynamic farming throughout. The Clos des Chênes is the estate’s signature — one of Volnay’s greatest wines and a benchmark for the appellation’s finest terroirs.

2023 Vintage Notes (VFTC #115)

Visited mid-January 2025. Frederic Lafarge termed 2023 “a great vintage” — one of the most enthusiastic vignerons on Gilman’s trip. Harvest started September 7th; aligote last picked September 20th. Pommard Pezerolles was grubbed up in 2021, so absent. Full premier cru roster produced (not possible in frost-damaged 2021). Everything still in cask and “absolutely singing.” Red wines span red and black fruity — no single vintage signature beyond beautifully pure, sappy fruit.

Whites:

  • Beaune “Clos des Aigrots” Blanc: 93+ pts (2025–2050+) — “simply gorgeous”; vibrant, precise
  • Meursault “Vendanges Selectionnees”: 93 pts (2027–2050+) — premier cru quality; old vines 65–75 years
  • Meursault: 91 pts (2025–2045+) — “simply gorgeous”
  • Bourgogne Aligote “Raisin d’Oree”: 90 pts (2025–2040+) — 95-year-old gamay/aligote vines

Reds:

  • Volnay “Clos des Chenes”: 95 pts (2040–2090+) — “magical wine in the making”; “dancing finish”
  • Volnay “Clos du Chateau des Ducs”: 95 pts (2040–2090+) — “stunning”; great transparency, tangy acids
  • Volnay “les Caillerets”: 94 pts (2037–2085) — replanted one-third a decade ago, now blended back; “great bottle”
  • Beaune “Greves”: 93+ pts (2037–2085) — very red fruity; “a simply stunning bottle of Beaune!”
  • Volnay “les Mitans”: 93+ pts (2037–2085) — “great backend lift!”; unusually red fruity
  • Beaune “Clos des Aigrots”: 93 pts (2035–2080) — beautifully black fruity, sappy
  • Volnay “les Pitures”: 93 pts (2037–2085) — all black fruit (reversed from Mitans)
  • Volnay “Vendanges Selectionnees”: 92 pts (2035–2080) — premier cru quality; vines 60+ years
  • Volnay: 91 pts (2033–2075+) — outstanding village wine
  • Bourgogne Passetoutgrains “Cuvee Exception”: 90 pts (2027–2040+) — 95-year-old gamay vines
  • Bourgogne Rouge: 90 pts (2029–2050) — “always one of my absolute favorite examples”

2024 Vintage Notes (Burghound #102)

Frédéric Lafarge: poor flowering caused huge shatter but biodynamic mildew treatments were effective — losses from mildew only 5–8% (far less than neighbors). Only 11 treatments made. Picked Sept 10–16 (aligoté Sept 22). Pinot yields 10–18 hl/ha. Potential alcohols 12.5–12.8%. Usual vinification over 16–18 day cuvaison, careful with extractions due to small berries. No Cuvée Vendange Sélectionnées produced (yields too low). Lafarge: “what really distinguishes [the 2024s] is the superb purity of the fruit as well as the crystal clear transparency.”

2024 Scores (barrel):

  • Volnay “Clos du Château des Ducs” 1er (monopole): (91-93) — gorgeously textured; punch and minerality; “built-to-age”; “always a wine of punch and refinement and so it is again”
  • Volnay “Les Caillerets” 1er: (91-93) — markedly intense, overtly stony; dense but fine tannins; “very classy juice”; only 1 barrel made
  • Volnay “Les Mitans” 1er: (90-93) — rich, lacy mouthfeel; evident minerality; “pretty much textbook Mitans”; repay up to a decade
  • Volnay “Les Pitures” 1er: (90-93) — muscular, stony; bottled exclusively in magnum; needs close to a decade
  • Beaune “Grèves” 1er: (90-92) — 103-year-old vines (!); good volume and density; focused
  • Volnay: (89-91) — includes vineyards normally in Vendange Sélectionnées; excellent tension; “lovely”
  • Beaune “Clos des Aigrots” 1er: (89-92) — energetic, mineral-driven, chiseled; could be enjoyed young
  • Bourgogne Pinot Noir: (87-89) — “terrific for its level and recommended”
  • Bourgogne Passe-tout-grains l’Exception: (86-89) — 95-year-old vines; “almost always boxes its weight”
  • Volnay “Clos des Chênes” 1er: Not Rated — firmly reduced on both nose and palate; impossible to predict if reduction will clean up

My Tastings

(none yet)

Sources

  • sources/articles/VFTC/VFTC Jan-Feb 2025 #115.txt
  • sources/articles/VFTC/VFTC Jan-Feb 2026 #121.pdf
  • sources/articles/Burghound/Burghound Issue 102 - 2024 and 2023 Cote de Beaune Reds.txt

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