Volnay Clos des Ducs, Domaine Marquis d'Angerville 2016

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.

An ultra-elegant nose exhibits a broad range of spice and floral elements on the black cherry and plum-suffused aromas. There is almost painful intensity to the chiseled, focused and stony medium weight flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the youthfully austere, powerful and very serious finish. This is very firmly constituted and a wine that should really not be touched for at least a decade. In a word, terrific.

The 2016 Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Ducs, the famous monopole of the domaine that ostensibly forms Guillaume d’Angerville’s back garden, unequivocally possesses the most complex bouquet this year with mineral-drenched black fruit, briary, cinnamon, cold Alpine stream, strawberry pastilles and orange zest. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip on the entry. This is very pure and focused, a fine backbone here but there is enormous length as it fans out. There is something noble about this wine…or should I say, ducal?

**Note: a monopole that measures 2.15 ha**Interestingly, this seems to possess elements of all three of the preceding wines as the cool and ultra-elegant nose exhibits a broad range of spice and floral elements on the black cherry and plum-suffused aromas. There is almost painful intensity to the chiseled, focused and stony medium weight flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the youthfully austere, powerful and very serious finish. This is very clearly built to age and a wine that should really not be touched for at least a decade. In a word, terrific.