Michel Lafarge - Volnay - Clos des Chenes - 1er Cru

Aromas of smoked meat, freshly-grated ginger, and intensely concentrated cherry and red currant offer a call to the forceful attack mounted on the palate by the Lafarges’ 2005 Volnay Clos des Chenes, incisively reaching every corner. But for all of its brightness as well as obvious tannic structure, this is imposingly creamy in texture, and low tones of dark chocolate, meats (running the gamut from ham hocks to bloody beef), chalk and wet stone emerge, along with subtle and complex spiciness, in an evocative finish. As usual, this will offer a fascinating decade or more of comparison with the Clos du Chateau des Ducs. (The 2004, incidentally, displays cut, clarity, and more concentration than its vintage stable mates, because, says Lafarge, the fruit from this site permitted greater fermentative extraction than that from his other hailed-on Volnay vineyards.)