2015 Volnay Fremiets 1. Cru Marquis d'Angerville

A wine that can be quite austere and reticent in its youth, this completed its malolactic fermentation late and so is even more backward than usual. Serious, dense and pepper spicy, with fresh, chalky acidity and a cool, almost haughty restraint. 2024-32.

A notably ripe nose stops just short of surmaturité while displaying notes of plum, black cherry, earth and a pretty lashing of spice elements. There is a bit more size, weight and mid-palate stuffing to the velvety and palate soaking flavors that are shaped by a markedly firm tannic spine on the gorgeously persistent finale where the only nit is a barely discernible hint of warmth. Lovely but once again, patience required. 2030+

This wine shows plenty of weight for a Frémiet, but it retains the stony texture and stony red fruits plus penetration that typify the terroir of the vineyard. 94/A .

The 2015 Volnay 1er Cru Fremiets has a well-defined, quite floral bouquet with touches of blueberry and blackcurrant, plenty of undergrowth and hints of crème de cassis coming through. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin. There is considerable weight in the mouth, quite assertive and focused with a structured, almost Pommard-like finish. It feels a little curmudgeonly at the moment, but it will reward those who give it 4-5 years in bottle.

Bright ruby. Blackberry, licorice and violet on the perfumed nose. Fine-grained and suave, but with terrific inner-mouth floral lift giving the middle palate a sense of energy. The wine's finishing sweetness is leavened by saline minerality and noteworthy grip. Really spreads out to saturate the mouth; an outstanding example of this premier cru.