2008 Volnay Les Caillerets

Lemon zest, peat, cherry pits, salt spray, and chalk dust on the nose and palate of Boillot’s 2008 Volnay Les Caillerets compound a sense of pungency conveyed by its bright red berry fruit. A dynamic exchange of fruit and mineral renders this tongue-tingling, invigorating, and alluring, leaving you licking your lips and salivating uncontrollably. This should grow up to become a profound exemplar of its site, especially if it gains some richness and bass line. I would expect it to be capable of 12-15 years aging. In 2008, Henri Boillot both expanded his domaine and became ambitious qua negociant with Pinot. In the latter capacity, he looks for contracts where he can exercise control over the farming, so that, for example, all of the 2008s – he reports – were cropped at less than 20 hectoliters per hectare and picked very late. Unorthodoxly (for Burgundy, at least) Boillot pressed many of his reds early to let them complete fermentation in barrel. His malos were late but not dramatically so, finishing in August, and most of the wines were bottled in February, a few earlier. (I tasted several 2007 reds from Boillot, but too early-on to adequately assess, and I have not had time to revisit that collection.) Various importers