2001 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay Clos des Chenes 1er Cru

Medium red. Inviting aromas of plum, smoked meat, truffle and underbrush. Silky and slightly high-toned, showing a balsamic quality to its subtle sweet plum and underbrush flavors. As is occasionally the case with Lafarge's wines, there's a fine line here between an absence of new oak and a slight taste of old barrels. Shows a fine-grained texture in the middle palate but finishes a bit pinched, with the granular tannins providing very good grip. (Frédéric Lafarge told me that this wine "got very austere after the bottling and did not start to expand and show itself until 2012.")

Tasted at the vertical tasting in London, the 2001 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chênes shot above everyone's expectations, perhaps including Frédéric Lafarge seated opposite, commenting that this was picked particularly late. It has a lightly ferrous bouquet with blackberry and raspberry preserve scents that gently unroll with a few swirls of the glass. Medium-bodied in the mouth, it is adorned with lovely dark cherry, bay leaf and Chinese tea scents. It is quite masculine in style. You might even describe this as "moody." Unlike other vintages, the 2001 is not yearning to be loved, yet that makes it even more intriguing and merely serves to draw you in to its charms. Drink now and over the next decade. Tasted November 2015.

Good medium red. Musky, slightly stunted aromas of red fruits, tobacco and earth. Rich and fat but a bit chunky for this cuvee; this too could use more verve. Clenched and a bit dry on the end, with the tannins reaching the teeth. This parcel was affected by the hail in early August.