2006 Volnay Champans

Tasted assembled from tank on the eve of its bottling, d'Angerville's 2006 Volnay Champans offers a surprisingly austere and stonily mineral rendition of its site. That said, there is also abundant sweet, lightly-cooked cherry fruit, augmented on the nose by suggestions of talcum and bittersweet herbal extracts. Concentration and a sense of high extract here are by no means incompatible with refinement and buoyancy. I just wish the wine would open up and show a bit more color and seductiveness, but that may come. Certainly this will be good for at least 6-8 years. Like his illustrious father, Guillaume d’Angerville and estate director (and brother-in-law) Renaud de Villette have beaten the odds with their gentle art of winemaking (inter alia short maceration, no pigeage, promotion of late malo, low levels of new wood) in far more difficult vintages than 2006, so the generally high quality of their recent collection comes as no surprise. They waited until late September, and then brought in their entire crop in only five days. I have not had a chance to taste the d'Angerville generic and village wines, nor their Champans since it was bottled. Incidentally, this estate continues to routinely give its wines a course plaque filtration. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400

Very reduced nose – shame because the fruit is probably quite good. See other wine from here!! (JR)

Good full red. Pure, fresh aromas of dark cherry, licorice and minerals. Juicy, sweet and penetrating, with a medicinal reserve calling for six or seven years of patience. Finishes with dusty, serious but well-integrated tannins.