This bottle did not have the benefit of the extended aeration we gave the previous one, but still showed very well. It had a sweet, fruity 2009 nose, with blackberries and dark cherries and a little touch of violets on a background of bramble and stone aromas. Very pretty, if just on the side of new-world ripeness. The palate, as expected, was super young and very primary, but again really delicious, with clear, pure flavours of dark cherries and berries laced with bright acidity and a stream of stony minerality. A bed of fine but firm tannins carried the wine into a long finish flecked with minty herbs and spice notes. This had a lot of stuffing and power for a village, especially obvious towards the really surprisingly long finish. Very good. No harm done in drinking this really young with a good, long decant or time in an opened bottle, but this really should do well with at least 5 to 6 years in the cellar.

I really liked this wine - it took me a couple of guesses before idenitfying it as a Michel Lafarge Volnay, but it had all the hallmarks of its maker, with an understated but very classy expression of terroir and vintage. There was a very nice nose here, with a whiff of sweet strawberry preserve and a touch of biscuit, almost like the coating of a Glico Pocky Strawberry stick, and then just a hint of raspberry ripple, along with more tertiary scents of bramble and earth. With time, a little floral whiff floated out, more or less confirming that this was a Volnay. Very nice. The palate was blessed with the fresh, bright acidity of the vintage, showing in a very cool, clear fashion, with serious limestone notes undergirding sweeter high-toned notes of fresh cherries and berries. This had a lovely purity to it wed to a solid sense of structure, all leading into a wonderfully fresh finish with licks of mineral lapping around more pure red fruited tones. Lovely depth and presence all round. While really yummy, it was very young for a 2001, with a layer of fine but firm tannins and fresh acidity thrown like a cloak over the still rather primary fruit. I thought it needed a good 5 years at least to really blossom. It should be lovely when it does though.