2011 Volnay Champans 1. Cru Marquis d'Angerville

The 2011 Volnay Les Champans 1er Cru has an assured and sensual bouquet with perfumed blackberry, raspberry and almost confit-like fruit. There is detail and harmony here, the fruit beautifully enmeshed with the oak. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, a silver bead of acidity all bound up in a razor-sharp line of acidity. There is impressive density with red fruit flourishing and fanning out on the finish. Superb. Tasted at Flint Wines Burgundy 2011 tasting.

A slightly riper and more complex if less elegant nose demonstrates a distinctly different aromatic profile with a much earthier character to the spice, red pinot and mildly sauvage scents. The intense and strikingly pure flavors ooze a fine and relatively discreet minerality, all wrapped in a tautly muscled, balanced and persistent finish. This harmonious effort is relatively fine by the standards of the terroir and this should reward mid-term cellaring. 2021+ .

The 2011 Volnay 1er Cru Champans, here tasted from magnum, has developed a conservative bouquet with delicate touches of dried rose petals that tincture the precise red berry fruit. This was actually more expressive and exhibited more precision than its 2009 counterpart, which would appear to be closing down at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with supple and fine tannin, the acidity extremely well judged and lending precision and tension to this Volnay Champans that I feel has improved in the last couple of years. Perhaps a 2011 Volnay on a gentle upward trajectory?

Good bright red. Expressive aromas of redcurrant, plum, truffle and smoke, plus a whiff of game. Sweeter and creamier than the Taillepieds, with some very ripe red fruit flavors accented by a peppery nuance. Very pliant and accessible wine with broad, ripe tannins, no rough edges and excellent length. Certainly more open-knit than the Taillepieds today.