2020 Volnay Champans 1. Cru Marquis d'Angerville

(from a huge 3.98 ha parcel). There is a whiff of exotic spice sitting atop the ripe aromas of black raspberry coulis, violet, orange peel and Asian-style tea. The caressing but solidly energetic middle weight plus flavors manage to be at once elegant yet powerful before culminating in an equally austere, compact and beautifully well-balanced finale. This beauty of a Champans is also going to need at least 7 to 8 years of patience and should be more than capable of rewarding 12 to 15.

The 2020 Volnay Les Champans 1er Cru certainly has the most opulent bouquet amongst d’Angerville’s ‘20s with exuberant black cherries, raspberry coulis, hints of fresh fig and black truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with quasi-chalky tannins, taut and fresh, quite saline and poised with a harmonious finish not dissimilar to the Taillepieds. Satisfying persistence here, but in keeping with d'Angerville's other Volnays, it is quite serious in personality and this will oblige cellaring. Quite regal.

Fairly deep fresh purple, the 2020 Champans has less immediate weight of fruit at first on the nose, than the impressive Taillepieds but I suspect it is all there. The discretion continues on the first half of the palate, but thereafter there is a wealth of dark but fresh raspberry, a little more structure behind, both good acidity and tannins.

92-94P+: Aromas of red berries, orange rind, raw cocoa, warm spices and forest floor preface the 2020 Volnay 1er Cru Champans, a medium to full-bodied, rich and structured wine that's firmer and more muscular than the Taillepieds this year. This is one cuvée that is a touch more structured than its 2019 counterpart, and it will require a bit of patience.