A medium, medium-plus quite young looking colour. If it wasn’t so sweetly fruity I’d describe the nose as perfumed; it starts as a creamy ’summer pudding’ with undertones of caramel, 2 hours is enough to focus the aromas to a beam of pure red berry – as perfect as a young villages Volnay can be. On your tongue it has A1 balance and a very understated impact. A characterful flavour in the finish that nods to the barrel but without any of the wood tannin texture. I spent most of my time sniffing, but it tastes rather good too. I rather wish I’d bought this in magnums – but hey-ho…

Medium-plus ruby red. The nose is a real stunner; full of individual red berries – redcurrant and cranberry. The palate has an understated entry which starts narrow, opening wider as you move along with the acidity into the mid-palate. Silken with well covered tannins and a nice length. Wonderful villages despite the short note!

I’ve one superb and one really good Potel 1er Cru from Potel in 99 (Clos des Chênes and En Chevret), time to see how the villages is getting on. Medium-plus ruby-red colour to a watery rim. The nose is dominated at the start by toasty oak – unusual for a Potel wine – though slowly this goes through a caramel stage before it majors on the fruit: beautiful, clear red berries before becoming rather indistinct. Fresh and quite intense though I think there is still rather a lot of oak on the palate where it’s the most likely the source of those grainy tannins. There’s plenty of material here but I’m not 100% sure it will eventually overcome the ‘muddying’ effect of the wood – after-all it’s already 4 years since release. Still, however, I managed to enjoy it to the last drop.