2017 Domaine Michel Lafarge, Volnay Premier Cru, Les Caillerets

The 2017 Volnay Les Caillerets 1er Cru, which lost 40% of its vines after Frédéric Lafarge pulled up the oldest 60-year old vines after the frost damage, has the most "exotic" bouquet amongst Lafarge’s 2017s. Although the Caillerets remains within that idiom of "classic Burgundy". The palate is medium-bodied, feisty and spicy on the entry with hints of dark chocolate and espresso that tincture the red berry fruit. I find the oak just leaving a mark on the finish that will be subsumed by the time it is in bottle. Very fine.

The 2017 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets unfurls in the glass with a classy bouquet of crunchy cassis, red berries, dried flowers and dark chocolate that's still comparatively primary, with little hint of the tertiary complexity to come. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, chalky and tensile with a firm core of ripe fruit and juicy balancing acids. As is invariably the case, this Caillerets will demand a decade or more of bottle age before it truly shows its hand. After the 2017 vintage, half of the parcel was ripped up for replanting, so quantities will be more than usually limited in the years to come.