Volnay Clos des Ducs, Domaine Marquis d'Angerville 2010

Good medium red. Captivating aromas of black cherry, dark raspberry, minerals and flowers have shed the reductive character that made this wine difficult to taste shortly after the bottling. Juicy, penetrating and wonderfully elegant, delivering outstanding flavor intensity without any impression of heaviness. Red berry, red cherry and flowers dominate the middle palate, with an element of saline minerality expanding with air. Really stains the palate and titillates the salivary glands on the very long, rising finish. This wine is so well-balanced that it's delicious right now, but it has the solidity, sappiness and tannic structure for a slow and graceful evolution in the cellar. A transcendent premier cru. (14.1% alcohol; September 23 harvest; 3.5 pH; a major attack of oidium in Clos des Ducs in August resulted in a crop level of just 19 hectoliters per hectare, according to Angerville, who noted that the younger vines in the upper part of the vineyard were particularly affected). 2019-2042

**Note: a monopole that measures 2.15 ha**After the brilliance of the Champans I wasn't sure if the Clos des Ducs could surpass it but it did if only just. A sublimely pure and refined nose of pure extract of red pinot fruit also adds a gorgeous array of stone, earth, rose petal and spice hints. The delicious, detailed and mineral-driven flavors possess a palpable sense of energy as well as almost painful intensity on the impeccably well-balanced and driving finish that is an exercise in grace and harmony. It's not yet clear whether this will go down as one of the all-time great vintages for Clos des Ducs but it will certainly be among them as this is simply terrific.