Evidently has four years of post purchase bottle age. Lovely, well balanced, there's a freshness to it but not leanness. A pleasurable start to proceedings.

Deep yellow colour - v noticeable when compared to its flightmate. S mentioned that the last bottle he'd had was better on day 2, and I can see it with this wine. Left some in the glass until the end of the meal and it did perk up.

mmm mmm mmm - this is more like it, pale colour, lovely nose hint of lemon, hint of grass, some flintiness. Would this pass for more than a Villages wine? Not sure but definitely lovely stuff - my #3 WOTN.

I think I enjoyed this a little more than my tablemates, some stone fruit there, a certain gentle roundness, definitely one I would have liked to engage with over a leisurely dinner though, not sure it was flattered by the speed-dating format.

Something not quite right here - a certain monolithicness to the tannins while the fruit seems to have been cooked away. Again, I was in a minority with my perception on this so perhaps I am an unreliable Volnay taster.

My wine. Showing well - always a relief at these things - still purple in colour, there's some substance there but at this stage still a pronounced, not quite shrill acidity. I could see the familial resemblance to the 01, and could imagine this will follow a similar trajectory.

Oh this is it. Fully mature at this stage, although not on the downslope I don't think - I am told that it has been drinking the same for the past decade. There's a hint of mushroom, of autumn churchyard, but lovely balance - certainly no better than villages, but really what you want from a villages if you can get it.

There's a tautness here, the acidity is just a little shrill and unintegrated. Perfectly decent stuff and was pleased to have it but didn't show well on the night. Interestingly, my perceptions of this flight were very out of line with tablemates - so much so I asked for a sniff of a glass to make sure I hadn't got them mixed up. Anyway - a chacun son gôut...

Found this much more engaging, much more attractive - some discussion that there might be some VA there and degenerate musarophiles such as myself are unduly tolerant of such things...either way, enjoyed this.

My #2 WOTN. Real grip here, real body, as well as a gentle spiciness on the nose. Lovely stuff.

Seems balanced between an almost glossy fruitiness and a borderline animale earthiness. The indecision itself is somehow exciting, especially as we get towards the home straight, but if I owned these I'd love to see how they develop over the next few years - will it hold it together or resolve into one of the aspects of its character?

WOTN for me. There's a breadth to it, an almost generosity on the palate but one still perceives the intensity of the fruit, and the structure isn't 1er cru for sure. Jolly nice stuff.

This is one wine where I wonder if palate fatigue prevented it from being fairly evaluated. A little quieter than its flightmate, more restrained, but there's a lot going on here. I think of all the wines we tasted this is the one I'd like to try again - perhaps over a longer period and with larger pours...