Burgundy

I am drinking a premier cru Volnay and it tastes suspiciously like a Gamay. Is it possible that they blend in some gamay in Burgundy to make more money? As they used to do, as Kermit Lynch says, with Chateauneuf du Pape - which is far too expensive to do that with now?

Which one?

There are some similarities between the grapes though.

Agostino,

I had some Volnay from Leroux a few years ago that was very gamay-like. That seemed to be the exception as the Volnay wine from d'Angerville, Lafarge, and Potel that I have tasted have a much more medium/full bodied structure.

I am drinking a premier cru Volnay and it tastes suspiciously like a Gamay. Is it possible that they blend in some gamay in Burgundy to make more money? As they used to do, as Kermit Lynch says, with Chateauneuf du Pape - which is far too expensive to do that with now?

As you no doubt know, they can't do it legally, though that hardly settles the question. More likely to me is that the wine you had used carbonic maceration partly or in full, and that imparts a character to the wine that many associate with the Beaujolais and hence Gamay.

Just a thought,
Mark Lipton

It seems to me that some producers tend to over-extract their wines, which results in jammy, almost gamay-like wine, not necessarily bad, but not good pinot. Vincent Girardan comes to mind with his '05 Bourgogne, what a shame to spoil a lovely vintage by over-doing the press or maceration. Maybe this is what you experienced.