2011 Pommard 1. Cru Les Rugiens Henri Boillot

Boillot's Pommard Rugiens is one of the more explosive 2011s readers will come across. Intense spice notes meld into black cherries and plums in a full-bodied Burgundy full of personality and character. It is hard to imagine the 2011 will be ready to drink before its tenth birthday, as the wine is tightly wound and far from fully expressive. Licorice, menthol and cloves are some of the notes that inform the huge, structured finish. This is another wine for the cellar. 2021 - 2036

Good bright, deep red. Redcurrant, pepper, iron and earth tones on the nose, lifted by a suggestion of dried flowers. Reticent today but showing outstanding vinosity to its soil-driven flavors of redcurrant, spices, licorice, pepper and underbrush. Best today on the very long, floral back end, where the firm tannins currently clamp down on the wine's fruit. This youthfully medicinal wine is tighter than the Volnay premier crus here and in need of a good seven or eight years of cellaring. Incidentally, Sebastien Boillot describes the family's 2011s as less charming than the '10s and '12s and believes that they will need long aging.