2014 Pommard Les Rugiens

Good full red. Slightly reduced aromas of redcurrant and raspberry are lifted by iron and black pepper nuances. Sweet and silky but also vibrant and delineated, conveying a juicy quality to the flavors of red fruits, iron and minerals. This boasts terrific thickness for the year yet maintains a light touch owing to its salinity and vinosity. Finishes very long and lively, still a bit tight.

(50% of the crop was lost to hail, but Volnay production in 2014 was down closer to 75%, according to Guillaume Boillot; half from Rugiens Hauts and half from Rugiens Bas; 50% new oak):Bright, dark, healthy red. Inviting iron-y perfume of redcurrant, red cherry, rust, spices, white pepper and minerals. Silky in texture and intense, communicating insinuating soil salinity to its red fruit and mineral flavors. Finishes with noble tannins and rising spicy length. For such a fine-grained wine, this boasts terrific thrust.

The 2014 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens has a fragrant bouquet, almost Volnay-like, gentle and caressing with scents of raspberry and cranberry, contained but pure. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry, sappy red berry fruit here with a pleasing saline element towards the finish. There is very prudent use of new oak here and the wine really shows its terroir to good effect. Very fine.