2020 Domaine Michel Lafarge, Volnay Premier Cru, Pitures

As usual, the 2020 Volnay Les Pitures 1er Cru is bottled only in magnum. Blackberry and cranberry fruit on the nose, crushed limestone, a touch of cola, this is very complex on the nose. The palate is medium-bodied with fine body and density, structured and almost symmetrical in balance, there are veins of graphite infusing the red fruit on the strict, Pommard-like finish. Excellent.

Lafarge's magnum-only cuvée is the 2020 Volnay 1er Cru Pitures, a medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated wine evocative of raspberries, sweet spices, rose petals and raw cocoa. Powerful and tightly wound, it will require and reward patience.

Clay soils behind the Clos des Ducs vineyards and Pommard. Only bottled in magnum. Cask sample. Deep ruby; bulk and mass, really quite wild. Immense structure. Long life ahead… (MH)