2016 Volnay

The 2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos du Verseuil is the most harmonious and integrated of Clerget's 2016s at this early stage, wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet wild berries, dried flowers, raw cocoa and spice. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, velvety and elegant, with good concentration and depth at the core, fine structuring tannins and a succulent core of fruit. It exemplifies the stereotypical charm of Volnay. Few of Burgundy's young vignerons and vigneronnes have garnered more breathless critical accolades in the last eighteen months than the young and immensely personable Thibaud Clerget. (WK)

Cask sample. Rich plummy fruit on the nose with delicate bitterness on the finish. Youthful and snappy with rounded texture and a smooth, gradual finish leaving some floral aroma on the length. (RH)

(I tasted all of these 2016s from cuves): Good medium red. Very ripe black cherry aroma lifted by a floral element; comes across as a bit less ripe and extreme than the 2015s that Clerget presented first. Also more aromatic and delineated in the mouth, conveying lovely vinosity and shape as well as a complicating savory quality. This very pure village wine finishes long and firmly tannic but not at all hard.