Volnay Vielles Vignes 2009 - Alliterative Burgundy for fans of claret

An eye opener for a Burgundy novice like me

Regular readers of this blog, if there are any, may note that I don't blog much about Burgundy. This is for a really simple reason. I don't know much about the region, or the wines. I haven't had the time or the budget to explore the decent stuff. Finally, being completely honest, Pinot Noir is really not my favourite grape. I often find it a little lightweight for my tastes, which are far more Bordeaux, Rhone valley or Languedoc aligned when it comes to French wines. However, I'd be the first to admit to not having tried much decent burgundy, given its cost and my slight prejudice against the grape. 
The one region I have always been a fan of which focuses on Pinot Noir is Central Otago in New Zealand. 
Back in 2009 I was in Marlborough and Queenstown and tasted quite a few South Island Pinots. Many of the Central Otago wines I had, I loved. They have an intensity and complexity that I enjoy in other regions. I've got a case of 2010 Rippon Vineyard, Rippon Mature Vine which I am really looking forward to tasting at some point soon, probably Christmas.
Anyhow, back to Volnay. Now this is a find. The manager of the wine bar in Prague where I tried this last week told me many of the wines from this area have these below characteristics. 
Some more about it is here, from Invino.com. A lot more is here, and this link is worth a click..
If you can find this wine, it's about £20-30 a bottle, as far as I can tell.
Here are my tasting notes from the half bottle we tried:

2009 Domaine Poulleau Pere & Fils Volnay, Cote de Beaune, France

Rich acid nose, spicy, earthy forward fruit. Minerality, definite age on the front of the palate and then the Pinot breadth and smoothness kicks in. Long finish, bit of oak and vanilla (but in a very good way!)

This wine was a bit of an eye opener for me. I haven't had a Burgundy like this before. That's more likely due to my ignorance (in fact it definitely is). This wine really ticked all the boxes for me and I'll be hunting out more in the future.

Puligny-Montrachet Vielles Vignes 2009: No bargain but what a beauty

How would you describe this fine white from the Loire?

It's smooth to the first taste, growing very quickly to rich, big honey flavours and a strong acid finish.

I'm not a big drinker of white wine, although I must confess a weakness for Bret Brothers Pouilly Fuisse 2009

That's a very different kettle of fish to this Puligny-Montrachet (left) from Remigny, Saone et Loire.

This wine, at £29.99, is a lot more than I would usually pay for white.

Usually I limit myself to £15-20 for a half decent Sancerre or if I can find it, a white Bordeaux from the left bank (Cos D'estournel makes an excellent one, but it's not cheap)

This wine was a gift, however, but it makes it onto the blog purely due to its unusual character. Not what I expected, but nonetheless very tasty indeed. If you want to spend £30 on a big rich fine white, this Puligny-Montrachet is a good place to start.

My gift was from Sainsbury's, but I'm sure you can find this elsewhere too.

Haut Bages Monpelou 2000, amazing value Pauillac

I've just discovered Haut Bages Monpelou 2000 this weekend at the Sampler in Islington, London. (Yes the image above is the 2006, but I can't find a pic of the 2000)

Online it's under £24, although in the shop I'm sure I paid about £26.

It's the second wine of 5th growth Chateau Batailley, which is a superbly reliable outfit.

That minor price quibble aside, it's a cracker for the money paid.

2000 as we all know was a stunning year in Bordeaux. I haven't seen many other wines this good at this price.

Aged nicely, it has the feel of an older wine, perhaps a 1990's.

A hint of mustiness is wonderfully controlled by the fruit and the finish just keeps going.

I've shared £50 Pauillac bottles that this compares with very well indeed.

For the price and the year, it's a real gem. I'll be getting some more of this in while I can given that it's very hard to find online.