2014 Volnay Champans

Lightish crimson. LIfted and fragrant with delicious red cherry fruit, and a touch of oak spice. The fruit sings from the glass. That delicious scent continues on the palate to the very end. Lightish, super-elegant and so fragrant. I am so taken up with the fragrance that I barely notice the structure and depth – but the freshness and fine structure are all in place for the future. Haunting fragrance even when you leave the glass behind. Very long. Extreme subtlety. (JH)

Bright medium red. Very ripe black cherry and chocolate aromas are lifted by a floral element. Intense red and darker berry flavors are accented by a touch of blood orange bitterness. Boasts superb precision and cut but also boasts the sucrosité and underlying silkiness of texture to give it earlier appeal than the Taillepieds in spite of its youthful austerity.

The 2014 Volnay 1er Cru Champans has a more pointed and angular nose at the moment when compared with the Taillepieds. It is probably the most primal of the Volnay, black cherry and cassis fruit suffused with tangible mineralité, but it needs to be knitted together during the remainder of its élevage. The palate is very well balanced, the wood component again needing time to enmesh, but there is good substance here -- even if I prefer the elegance of the Caillerets on the finish (at the moment).