2019 Domaine Michel Lafarge, Volnay Premier Cru, Les Caillerets

The 2019 Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets is stunning, soaring from the glass with a blaze of rose petals, raspberries, peonies and bergamot, complemented by subtle hints of raw cocoa and truffle. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and perfumed, it's exquisitely refined, with a seamless, elegantly layered profile and a bright, saline finish.

The 2019 Volnay Les Caillerets 1er Cru clearly has more mineralité and even more terroir expression on the nose compared to the Les Mitans. Transparent and wonderfully focused, you can just inhale the pungent scents of its limestone soil. The palate is well balanced with impressive acidity and energy - crunchy red berry fruit with touches of chalk towards the almost brittle finish. Very classic in style, you would never believe that this Caillerets was born in such a warm growing season.

Red soils over calcareous for minerality. This plot is worked by horse. Frédéric Lafarge admitted that Lalou Bize-Leroy was the one who started training horses to work in the vineyards. A horse takes picking containers out to vineyards – very ‘Zen’ task apparently. In early April 2020 they started to replant their 0.3 ha in spiral rows to respect the old circular way of working and the site. Cask sample. Sumptuous nose. Really lively finish and so clean and fresh but gorgeous intensity initially. (JR)