Notes:
John Gilman's View from the Cellar; Jan/Feb 2010
The 2008 Clos du Chteau des Ducs is another really poised, deep and aromatically stunning wine, as it offers up a beautiful blend of cherries, strawberries, woodsmoke, a touch of orange zest, roses and again, breathtaking minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and very, very long, with a fine core of fruit, impeccable focus and balance and a glorious synthesis of sappy red fruit and insistent minerality on the suavely tannic and very long finish. A great wine in the making, I would do everything in my power to give this wine at least a full decade of bottle age before really starting to think about drinking it. Not that it will not be accessible earlier, but there are some serious aromatic and flavor fireworks to come here when the wine reaches its peak! 93+ points.
Stephen Tanzer's Int'l Wine Cellar; Mar/April 2011
Good medium red. Complex but reticent aromas of red fruits and soil. A rich, velvety style of 2008, youthfully closed today but already displaying impressive volume. This gained in clarity and freshness as it opened in the mouth, showing excellent medicinal reserve to its red and darker berry and licorice flavors. Finishes with impressive length. I'd give this seven years in the cellar. 92+ Points.
Allen Meadows' Burghound; May 2011
(Note: from 50+ year old vines; a monopole of the domaine) A nose of pure pinot, violets and dissolved mineral notes complement to perfection the detailed and stone-driven medium-bodied flavors that possess fine volume and a gorgeously balanced finish. The harmony here is Zen-like. 93 Points and Outstanding.
Note: from 50+ year old vines; a monopole of the domaine
Michel Lafarge, and his son Frdric, called 2008 a "completely unexpected surprise. We thought that we were going to have a potential disaster on our hands yet the wines have turned out very well, mostly thanks to the drying and concentrating effects of a stiff north wind that blew from mid-September until the harvest. The summer weather wasn't glorious and we had a hail storm on the 26th of July. If there is ever any good news resulting from a hail storm, in this case there wasn't much rainfall with it, which means that we could get into the vineyards immediately afterwards to treat the vines, which isn't always the way it works. There was also rot pressure and 2008 is really a vintage that rewarded good vineyard work because it was very, very difficult to have clean fruit without it. You also had to have reasonable yields because if you did, the effects of the north wind and better weather took the grapes from green to ripe in the space of only three weeks. We began picking on the 24th of September and brought in very ripe and clean fruit with excellent sugars. We did a typical vinification, reasoning that with ripe fruit, why not? Overall, we very much like the vintage as it's one where the terroir of each and every wine is front and center." It was interesting when I asked Lafarge senior, who has more than 50 years of experience with vintages in Burgundy, if he could draw a parallel with the style of the wines in 2008. His laconic response was simply "no." As to the Lafarge 2007s, with the exception of a mildly disappointing Vendange Slectionnes, the wines have turned out almost exactly as previewed last year. There are many that are worthy of your attention and have the added benefit of being approachable earlier than most vintages chez Lafarge. The present plan is to bottle in the '08s in April
Domaine Lafarge Volnay 1er Cru "Clos du Chateau des Ducs" 2008
Reviews:
Burghound: 93 Outstanding!
Vinous Media: 92+
John Gillman: 93+
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