2016 Volnay Clos des Ducs

Bright, deep red. Deeper-pitched on the nose than the young 2017, offering aromas of cherry, blueberry, menthol and licorice and an impression of medicinal reserve. A juicy, spicy, impeccably balanced midweight with outstanding clarity and cut and an enticing touch of sweetness leavened by spiciness. Plenty of tannin/acid spine here to frame and carry the fruit through a long, rising, floral finish. This tightly wound beauty shows the sappy quality of the vintage's better examples and should be long-lived. It would be a shame not to give it at least four or five more years of cellaring, if not eight or ten. (13.05% alcohol; September 25 harvest; 45 h/h; 3.39 pH; from what Guillaume d'Angerville described as "a good crop," as this vintage escaped the frost, whose effects, he said, did not extend higher than 260 meters: Clos des Ducs is 300 to 325 meters above sea level, with very good air flow to dissipate frost)

Quite high yields (45 hl/ha) because even the bottom of Clos des Ducs is above the frost zone (below 260 m). Harvest 25 September, pH 3.39. Some glowing ruby. Already wonderfully complex and broad and glowing. Kerpow!!! So intense and multifaceted. Opening up nicely. Seriously noble and upright without being remotely austere. (JR)

The 2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs is a stunning young wine, unwinding in the glass with a beautiful but reserved bouquet of rose petal, candied violet, red cherries, plums, dark chocolate and hints of the savory bass-notes to come. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with lovely purity of fruit, dense but velvety tannins and a bright animating line of acidity, concluding with a penetrating and precise finish. There's an energy to the fruit that marks this out as a special vintage for the Clos des Ducs, though it will demand a decade's patience at a minimum.