Bright ruby. Blackberry, licorice and violet on the perfumed nose. Fine-grained and suave, but with terrific inner-mouth floral lift giving the middle palate a sense of energy. The wine's finishing sweetness is leavened by saline minerality and noteworthy grip. Really spreads out to saturate the mouth; an outstanding example of this premier cru.

The 2015 Volnay 1er Cru Fremiets was showing very well from bottle, wafting from the glass with notes of raspberry, cherry, spice and orange rind that offer little hint of the savory complexity to come with bottle age. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, structured around juicy acids and a fine-grained but firm chassis of tannins that asserts itself on the finish. Fremiets sits above the Clos des Angles, and its shallower soils tend to issue in wines with notable crunch and tension.

The 2015 Volnay 1er Cru Fremiets has a well-defined, quite floral bouquet with touches of blueberry and blackcurrant, plenty of undergrowth and hints of crème de cassis coming through. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin. There is considerable weight in the mouth, quite assertive and focused with a structured, almost Pommard-like finish. It feels a little curmudgeonly at the moment, but it will reward those who give it 4-5 years in bottle.

Tasted not long before bottling. Notably dark crimson. Very hidden nose. Lots of dark ferny stuff buried in here! Then bitter black cherries. Made very much for the long term with some distinctly drying tannins on the end. Difficult to judge except for ambition at the moment. Impressive persistence. (JR)