2008 Domaine Marquis d'Angerville Volnay Champans 1er Cru

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 91 points

Tart cherry, porcini, and game in the nose of the dAngerville 2008 Volnay Champans lead to a sappy, bright mouthful of vivid red berries underlain by mushroom stock and following up with a saline, umami-rich, saliva-inducing finish. This has the purity and clarity, the brightness and energy that make this vintage so fascinating and appealing at least to tasters for which these are important virtues. I suspect it will retain its energy for 10-12 years at least. Guillaume dAngerville and Renaud de Villette had good reason for their upbeat assessment of 2008 quality given the vintages travails, notably July hail that ravaged their Champans and parts of their villages and Bourgogne holdings, as well as touching other sites. The hail came too soon in the season, though, to have ill-effects on the eventual health of the fruit, and the team did not start picking until the 27th of September. With the exception of Clos des Ducs and Taillepieds bottled the week of my April visit, but showing no ill-effects, au contraire the 2008s were bottled in early March.Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400

Review Date: June 2010