The 2017 Volnay Les Champans 1er Cru has an elegant, tertiary bouquet with hints of dried orange peel; a pinch of white pepper develops with a few swirls of the glass. The medium-bodied palate displays very fine tannins that feel fleshier than the Clos des Chênes, and there is wonderful tension and precision on the long finish. Superb.

The 2017 Volnay 1er Cru Champans is effectively an old vine cuvée, as the parcel planted in 1922 gave a sufficiently generous crop for Dominique Lafon to relegate most of the fruit from the domaine's 1989 planting to the Volnay Village. The resulting wine is excellent, unfurling in the glass with aromas of cassis, dark chocolate, dried flowers and candied peel. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, with more concentration than the Clos des Chênes, and more length on the finish, too. I'm looking forward to seeing it from bottle.

Again, this is lifted with intense red fruits. A hint of spice on the nose and much more spicy on the palate. Intense but so light on its feet and supple. Fresh, intense and long. Chewy as it builds in the mouth, with a combination of both density and a lightness of touch. Fruit to the fore yet structured sufficiently by freshness and tannins. (JH)