The 2009 Volnay Les Chevrets bursts from the glass with racy dark red fruit, flowers, minerals and graphite. The 2009 caresses the palate with tons of radiance yet there is an underlying tension and vibrancy that is compelling. An intense, palate-staining finish rounds things out in style. This is a very, very young 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2029. Importer: Massanois Imports, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 470-6769

Boillot’s 2008 Volnay Les Chevrets – from a little-known site bordered by Caillerets and Santenots and with just four owners – juxtaposes bright, ripe cherry and blackberry with marrow-rich beef stock. Black tea, white pepper, fresh ginger, and cherry pit lend smokiness, pungency and piquancy to a palate-staining performance. Stony notes and firm tannins lend this an undertone of austerity but it will still prove useful in its youth, and I suspect more so after it’s had 3-5 years in bottle. It should keep well for at least a decade. In 2008, Henri Boillot both expanded his domaine and became ambitious qua negociant with Pinot. In the latter capacity, he looks for contracts where he can exercise control over the farming, so that, for example, all of the 2008s – he reports – were cropped at less than 20 hectoliters per hectare and picked very late. Unorthodoxly (for Burgundy, at least) Boillot pressed many of his reds early to let them complete fermentation in barrel. His malos were late but not dramatically so, finishing in August, and most of the wines were bottled in February, a few earlier. (I tasted several 2007 reds from Boillot, but too early-on to adequately assess, and I have not had time to revisit that collection.)Various importers