2015 Volnay Champans

The 2015 Volnay 1er Cru Champans is superb, wafting from the glass with notes of cassis, red cherry, raspberry and candied peel that is still very fruit driven, savory nuances only emerging with extended aeration. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and muscular, with an authoritative chassis of fine-grained but firm tannins and a deep core of crunchy fruit. This is shutting down, but it's full of promise for the future.

(13.5% alcohol): Saturated ruby. Youthfully imploded aromas and flavors of blackberry, cassis and licorice show no roasted character ("the color of the wine is the only thing that gives away the vintage," noted Guillaume d'Angerville). More pliant than the 2016 but with a magical sugar/acid equilibrium and a complicating element of savory minerality. This insidiously palate-saturating wine finishes with outstanding slatey persistence and grip. I would imagine that this will be long-lived but will it ever really shut down in the bottle? It's hard to imagine that this fruit was harvested on September 4.

Tasted not long before bottling. Notably dark crimson. Dramatic and edgy nose – almost bitter. Really edgy and pushing the envelope. Seems very ripe indeed even though there is also a lot of tannins. Arguably the most exaggerated of these wines. Drying end. A leap of faith? All potential. (JR)