The dark ruby-colored 1999 Volnay Clos Des Chenes offers a mouth-watering nose of blackberry jam infused with new oak. Medium to full-bodied, rich, and juicy, this powerful wine is packed with black cherries, cassis, and vanilla-laden oak. Projected maturity: 2003-2010. Bottled under the Baron de la Charriere label and imported by European Cellars, Eric Solomon, New York, NY; tel. (212) 924-4949

The outstanding and dark ruby-colored Volnay Clos Des Chenes offers a wonderfully intriguing nose of mocha-covered black raspberries as well as a deep, intense, full-bodied, concentrated, and extracted core of dark cherries, plums, blueberries, and traces of earth. This wine is neither opulent nor seductive, rather it is serious, structured, powerful, and extremely well-proportioned. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2005. The score, on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Vincent Girardin's 1996s are generally fresher and more supple than his 1995s, but are not as concentrated or structured. Since he personally prefers softer styled wines, Girardin prefers the 1996 vintage. My feeling is that many of his 1995s will develop better over time than these delicious mid-term drinking wine. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel (205) 980-8802

From purchased fruit, Girardin produced three dazzling Volnays. My favorite of Girardin's '95s, the black-colored Volnay Clos Des Chenes is a show-stopping, mind-blowing Burgundy! It reveals a deeply ripe nose of coffee, toffee and gorgeous black currants as well as a velvety-textured, full-bodied, highly structured, rich flavor profile. Crammed with super-sweet layers of cassis, cherries and blackberries, this sublime wine has a supple finish that lingers on the palate. This magnificent wine will be at its best between 2000 and 2008. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of Vincent Girardin's red Cote de Beaunes at my April tasting in Washington. Whereas there is always an element of doubt concerning the end product when tasting out of barrel, what I saw from Girardin was already bottled and in retail stores throughout the US (all of them were tasted with the American importer and many were later re-tasted blind with other 95 Burgundies). These are superlative red burgundies with a superb rapport in quality and price. This estate's wines exhibit superb ripeness, outstanding balance, beautiful purity of fruit, extraordinarily well-integrated oak and tannin. In the top cuvees there is unsurpassed length. I know of no other producer/negociant in Burgundy that can deliver as broad a range of outstanding wines at such reasonable prices. Furthermore, Girardin, like Bernard Dugat in Gevrey-Chambertin, has worked hard to improve the quality of his wines. To top it all off, we can look forward to many more years of sublime wines from this estate/negociant as Girardin and his wife, Veronique, are quite young. If you love Burgundian reds, run, don't walk, to your wine merchant and purchase these dazzling wines. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel (205) 980-8802.