La Pousse d’Or is one of the great names of red Burgundy. This walled monopole vineyard is located next to the Volnay town hall. A quarter of the vines were planted in 1958, the rest in the late 1960s and 1970s. The grapes are hand-harvested, de-stemmed and fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature controlled tanks. The wine is aged in French oak barriques (30% new) for 15 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Volnay is renowned for producing delicate, elegant and graceful wines. The appellation spans 242ha of vineyards, of which 115ha is divided among 26 Premier Crus. Some of the most notable of these are Bousse d'Or, Champans, Clos des Ducs, Les Caillerets and Santenots. Red wine from the Santenots vineyard is labelled as Volnay Santenots.
The wines of Vonay combine distinction, nobility, finesse, elegance, feminity, and an incomparable bouquet. Their robe can range from a tender rose red to the deepest ruby. A delicate bouquet of red berries (raspberry, blackberry) and violets, tannins that may be soft or quite robust, and a gracefully voluptuous palate place these wines among the best representatives of the Côte de Beaune.
Domaine de la Pousse d’Or was established in the commune of Volnay in 1964 by a consortium including Louis Seysses (the father of Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac) and Gerard Potel, though it can trace its lineage back to the Dukes of Burgundy in 1100. Pousse d'Or has enjoyed a strong following in Australia, because two groups of Australians including Moss Wood founder Bill Pannell and the late David Clarke AO, of Poole’s Rock and Macquarie Bank were involved as shareholders during the 80s and 90s.
Sadly, Gerard Potel, who is still revered in Burgundy, died in 1997 and the Australian shareholders sold the domaine to Patrick Landanger, an industrialist who made his fortune manufacturing surgical and orthopaedic instruments. Over the last twenty years, Landanger has expanded the domaine from 13ha to nearly 19ha having acquired nearly 2ha of Corton rouge grand crus in 1998, 0.73ha of Puligny-Montrachet Caillerets in 2004 and, most importantly, Landanger purchased the 3.5 ha Moine-Hudelot estate in Chambolle which included some Les Amoureuses Bonnes Mares.
With its state of the art, gravity fed winery, the introduction of Italian amphora for three of the Volnay premier crus, and with his son, Benoît, now calling the shots, this important domaine is firing on all cylinders.
