Here the aromas are equally ripe with an earthier and more deeply pitched aromatic profile that serves up a strikingly pretty array of red raspberry and currant, plum and violets that introduces, rich, full and more powerful flavors that possess a gorgeous mouth feel and ample mid-palate concentration that buffers the most prominent tannins on the driving, energetic and explosive finish. As it usually is, this is the best in show in 2006.

An explosively-concentrated 2006 Volnay Clos Des Chenes mingles cherry, redcurrant, ginger, orange peel, iodine, and bitter-sweet herbal and cherry pit concentrate, projecting confidence in its role as the Lafarge flagship. A wealth of largely ineffable but prominently chalky and saline mineral nuances lends intrigue, while hints of marzipan and caramel sneak onto the back palate, enhancing the sense of ripeness to this wine's sappy fundament of fruit. It manages to be texturally plush while displaying fine-grained underlying tannic structure, and finishes with detonative dynamic of tumbling fruits and minerals, uniting both refreshing brightness and a persistent sense of richness. Here is one 2006 that will surely be worth following for 12-15 years. Frederic and Michel Lafarge are consistently adept in challenging vintages, and succeeded admirably in 2006, harvesting from September 20 until the end of that month. To hear them tell (as well as to taste the results) their fruit was largely healthy, and sorting was principally to remove under-ripe berries and clusters. Not surprisingly, they chalk this up to vine management. "Biodynamic treatments permit the vine to overcome the stress of weather extremes," such as characterized 2006, asserts Frederic Lafarge. Michel Lafarge points out that the same – to his mind ideal – 12.5-13+% potential alcohol was reached over the same period in premier cru and non-cru sites alike, a phenomenon due in part, he believes, to his estate's high average age of vine. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers), fax 011-33-3-80-24-29-70

Good deep red. Rich nose showing more earth tones than red fruit today. The biggest and broadest of these 2006s but with a distinctly reserved quality to its red fruit flavors. Quite broad but remains light on its feet. Finishes with fairly substantial, dusty tannins and very good length and lift. Atypically backward for this wine, which is usually more forward in the early going.