📜 Volnay

Volnay is a French PDO (protected designation of origin) wine from the Côte-d'Or department in the Côte de Beaune, Burgundy. The specification covers red wines only, and they may use the term premier cru.

Grapes are harvested and wines are made, developed and matured in two municipalities: Meursault and Volnay. The permitted varieties are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris. The specification describes the wines as ruby-coloured and fruity, suited to bottle ageing: ten years, or even twenty for premier cru.

Subtractive enrichment techniques are permitted up to a concentration rate of 10 %. After enrichment, total alcoholic strength must not exceed 13.5 % vol., or 14 % vol. for premier cru. Wood chips are prohibited, and irrigation is not permitted.

The maximum yield is 58 hectolitres per hectare, or 56 hl/ha for premier cru. Vines must be planted at no fewer than 9,000 plants per hectare, with rows at most 1.25 m apart and plants at least 0.50 m apart in a row. They are pruned to at most 8 buds per plant, by spur pruning (cordon de Royat, bilateral cordon, gobelet, éventail) or single Guyot.

According to the specification, the vineyards stand on the front of the Côte, on marl from the Oxfordian and fragmented Callovian limestone, with thin, well-drained calcareous soils. The village grew up in the Middle Ages around the castle of the Counts of Burgundy, and 19th-century authors ranked Volnay at the top of Burgundy's hierarchy.