2012 Volnay Santenots 1er Cru

Consulting winemaker Nadine Gublin calls the estate's 2012 reds "surprising, exceptional, unimaginable. We were totally fooled: we did not expect great pinot noir. It's 2010 plus plus, with more ripeness. But we only discovered this during the elevage." As usual in the estate's deep, cold cellar, the malos were very slow to start and only finished in August and September (needless to say, Gublin is a major proponent of late malos). The wines were still on their lees in barrel, unracked, at the time of my mid-November visit but had been lightly sulfited at the end of September. According to Gublin, potential alcohol levels were an elevated 13.5% and there was zero chaptalization in 2010. She did a bit less pigeage than usual, due in part to the tiny, concentrated crop.