2022 Volnay Champans 1. Cru Marquis d'Angerville

This monumental wine is, as always, a reference for the appellation. In 2022, there is a lovely density of plum and blackberry fruit with spice and earth notes. The texture is plump, velvety and long, with supple tannins supporting the wine without adding astringency. D'Angerville destems and gave the grapes a cold soak before fermentation on native yeasts and ageing in cask (mainly used) to preserve the limpid purity of the fruit. It should continue to improve for at least 30 years beyond that.

The 2022 Volnay Les Champans 1er Cru is finely tuned on the nose, a mixture of red and black fruit, crushed stone, damp moss/undergrowth and potpourri. This blossoms in the glass, but, in keeping with d'Angerville's other cuvées, it doesn't press hard on the accelerator. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, lending this a satin-like texture. Not immensely deep, this expressive Les Champans is lightly spiced with a slightly more tertiary finish than its peers. The depth here is cunningly disguised and will only emerge once given adequate bottle maturity.

The archetype of Volnay for Guillaume, and it prepares the way for Clos des Ducs. A clear bright purple. Today, the nose has a light reduction, but the fruit beneath is light on its feet yet with a fine tensile strength. This has a long backbone. An interesting, complex wine which one could easily pass over too quickly.

The 2022 Volnay 1er Cru Champans offers up aromas of dark berries, licorice, grilled squab, spices and vine smoke, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and layered palate with a sweet core of fruit framed by powdery tannins that assert themselves on the discreetly carnal finish.

(from a huge 3.98 ha parcel). A restrained and intensely floral-suffused nose is reticent to the point of being brooding and only grudgingly provides glimpses of fresh dark berries and spice whiffs. The precise, highly energetic and super-fine middleweight flavors also exude evident minerality on the moderately austere and equally long finale. I almost always prefer the d’Angerville Taillepieds to their Champans but that could well change in 2022 as this is outstanding.