Chocolate and cooked ginger feature prominently in Glantenay’s 2007 Volnay Clos des Chenes just as they did in the 2008 incarnation of this wine. Toasted pecan, iodine, and chalk further accent the rich, palate-staining fruit, and the plush, almost velvety texture is not something encountered in this vintage (or, for that matter, in 2008). Long and positively sumptuous, this very impressive 2007 is not only more accessible today but will, I suspect, mature a bit sooner than the corresponding Caillerets. I would tentatively plan on up to 6-8 years of cellaring. Young Thierry Glantenay – whom I met for the first time this March – has the luck to have inherited old vines acquired or planted by his grandfather in some of the most prestigious sites of Volnay, Pommard, and Puligny, and is applying to them evident care and intelligence, given which facts it isn’t surprising – even though it was news to me – that his cellar is a superb source of Burgundy. Glantenay’s finished 2008s are in the low-13s of alcoholic percentage, having for the most part been boosted by one-half to one degree. All of them were in tank when I tasted, and none were due to be filtered at bottling, although the village Volnay, Caillerets, and Rugiens had been lightly “pre-filtered” to deal with what Glantenay deemed excess turbidity. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville , PA; tel. (610) 486-0800