Nicolas Rossignol, Volnay Village

Nicolas Rossignol on the terroir of Volnay. Nico has parcels of village vines below the village, but also on the hill above Volnay where the soil is thin and close to the mother rock with a lot of limestone. It gives a mineral, tight style, while the vines below the village on clay mature earlier and produce a richer style. The higher altitude vines are also North facing hence they need picking later...maybe just 3 days in a hot vintage such as 2018, but in a cold vintage more than a week. The limestone, altitude and exposure give a fresh style to the high vineyard wines which is welcome in hotter recent vintages. In the past Nico’s lieu-dit Bouchère would have been considered a rather marginal, but with global warming these vineyards provide the freshness and balance. In 2018 Nico also has Sur Rouches, another higher lieu-dit, but more east facing, in his village blend.