Volnay, Clos des Ducs, 1er Cru, 2006

Bright black cherry fruit with a distilled overtone, augmented by sweetly pungent brown spices greets the nose from a glass of d'Angerville 2006 Volnay Clos Des Ducs. There is an overt sense of density and of chalky minerality, but as with the more darkly-hued Taillepieds that does not occlude the juicy flow of ripe fruit or a sense of lift and refinement. Well-knit and ineradicable in flavor as this is, I feel sure it will be worth following for ten or a dozen years, and strongly suspect that it is only showing hints of the complexity that will come in another 3-4. Like his illustrious father, Guillaume dAngerville 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 chance to taste the d'Angerville generic and village wines, nor their Champans 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