1996 Volnay 1er Cru Les Aussy

The Volnay Les Aussy has blueberries and violets on the nose and a broad, masculine, medium-to-full-bodied, chewy, and full-flavored character filled with wild game, cracked black pepper, cassis, metals, and blackberries. It is intense, deeply ripe, and powerful. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2004. The score, on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Guillaume de Castelnau is as enthusiastic about his red 1996s as he is about his whites. Moderate yields in the 40 hectoliter/hectare range were harvested by hand and transported to the winery in small boxes to prevent bruising of the grapes. Damaged and unhealthy bunches are then sorted out prior to being 75-95% destalked. Castelnau then cools the must prior to fermentation (he is a big proponent of temperature control) and allows it to proceed with a 10 to 13 day fermentation, slowly raising the temperature to 30 to 33 degrees Celsius. No SO2 is added to the wines until their first rackings after the malo-lactic fermentations are completed. Domaine Genot-Boulanger's reds can best be described as "full-throttle", "in your face" wines. They cannot be defined as being elegant or refined, rather, these offerings are full-flavored, dark fruit-filled, and intense wines. In effect, lovers of Chateauneuf-du-Pape will find them immensely appealing. Many of these offerings are excellent values. As I also said concerning the estate's equally impressive white offerings, how these wines are dealt with at bottling will determine the ultimate quality of this, only Castelnau's second vintage as a winemaker. Represented by Domaines et Saveurs Collection, Jeanne-Marie de Champs, French Fax: 33-3-80-22-58-25.