2012 Volnay 1er Cru

This domain is barely accepting visitors these days, as they have virtually no wine to sell.According to regisseur Francois Duvivier, the estate-wide production in 2012 was ten hectoliters per hectare, the smallest crop ever.D'Angerville started harvesting on September 21 and picked in three days flat."There's a lot of freshness in the wine," noted Duvivier, "but the tannins are not completely ready today."The estate used valerian and arnica and silica sprays against vine stress after the hail storms.The wines are around 13% alcohol, without chaptalization, and Duvivier noted that they are high in dry extract.Owing to the hail events and the huge amount of solid material in the tiny, thick-skinned grapes, d'Angerville carried out a debourbage for the first time, as well as a very gentle vinification."Today we don't feel any greenness or vegetal aspect form the hail," said Duvivier, who also noted that he prefers "late-September ripening, as in 2012, because then we never have surmaturite or jammy aromas."

Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? The good news is that Guillaume d'Angerville's 2012s are stratospheric. The bad news is that yields are down a heart-wrenching 75-80%, which gives these cellars an almost eerie starkness. But there is something more important that truly distinguishes these Volnays in 2012. In a vintage in which the tiny yields have distorted so many wines to the point of being overly tannic and huge, d'Angerville is one of the few growers (Michel Lafarge is another) who has made wines that remain faithful to the house style. In 2012, there is no Clos des Angles, as that fruit went into the 1er Cru bottling. The 2012s will be nearly impossible to find, but if you see them, don't hesitate, as the wines are truly magnificent.