2012 Volnay Champans
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Tasting notes
Bright ruby-red. Superripe aromas and flavors of black cherry, dark chocolate and damp earth. Extremely rich and tactile but not showing the same energy in bottle that it did from barrel in November of 13. Just this side of over the top. Finishes with big but smooth tannins that saturate the mouth. This will need plenty of time to absorb some of its baby fat.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(this fruit was picked with 13% potential alcohol): Bright dark red. Brooding, musky, very ripe black cherry aroma. Sweeter in the middle than the Clos des Chenes, but with a bright sappy quality to the highly concentrated, chewy flavors of primary black fruits complicated by earth and bitter chocolate. Finishes with superb fine-grained tannins and outstanding length. There was relatively little hail here, according to Lafon.
Sweet red berries, crushed flowers and spices are all woven together in the 2012 Volnay Champans. I am not sure I have ever tasted a Champans with this much texture and depth at Lafon. Sweet, silky tannins round out the supple, totally engaging finish. The 2012 is very, very pretty.
Usually about one-third new oak. Just four barrels. Malolactic fermentation finished in May. 16 hl/ha – a relatively generous yield. Not that expressive but with more obvious fruit than the Clos des Chênes. Seems as though there is a bit a more juice here than in some of the Lafon reds. (JR)