2015 Volnay Fremiets

(bottled in March of 2017; 30% new oak): Medium red Deep aromas of black raspberry, black cherry and spicy oak. A step up in sweetness from the Volnay villages and Auxey-Duresses wines, offering lovely ripeness and fat to its the purple fruit, smoke and chocolate flavors. This very rich, deep wine saturates the palate and spreads out horizontally on the back end, where the big tannins are nicely supported by the wine material. A serious wine with the stuffing to age well.

(13.5% alcohol; 10% vendange entier ; there are just three one-year-old barrels of this juice): Good dark red, a bit less brilliant than the village Volnay. Smells denser, darker and riper, offering fruit-driven scents of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry and smoky minerality. Silky on entry, then much more reticent and dark in the middle, conveying an impression of medicinal reserve. A rather Pommard style of Volnay: seriously deep but with a lot of broad, dusty, spicy tannins saturating the mouth on the end. More massive by far than the village offering, and not showing that wine's easy sweetness today.

There are only two barrels of the 2015 Volnay 1er Cru Frémiets, which was impacted by the hail and consequently yields were reduced to 15 hectoliters per hectare. The vines here are more than 80 years old, assisted by younger 30-year-old vines. It tended to have small grapes on the older vines, generally with thick skins. The nose is a mixture of red and black fruit, raspberry coulis and wild strawberry, a touch of thyme. The palate is well structured with sappy red berry fruit, a pinch of white pepper and nicely structured on the finish à la Pommard, which is unsurprising given its location. What a beautiful Volnay. One to seek out if you couldn't get your mits on the Clos des Epenaux. Dec 2016, www.robertparker.com, Drink: 2019-2035