The 2012 Volnay 1er Cru Les Santenots has a very elegant, pure bouquet with dark cherries and boysenberry jam, capturing the vivacity of the vineyard. The palate is medium-bodied with just a little coarseness on the entry at the moment. This has firm backbone, but it just needs to loosen up on the finish. Naturally, I spent ten minutes parked outside Domaine Francois Jobard listening to Warpaint’s aptly entitled debut album “The Fool,” before it dawned upon me that I should have been at his brother Charles’s house ten minutes ago. Cue quick dash across Meursault village. Charles Jobard was waiting for outside the winery, probably aware that I would have gone to the wrong address. Charles actually retired a few years ago, but since his son Remi was not on hand, he temporarily came out of retirement to guide me through what were some really quite sublime expressions of Meursault without necessarily resorting to premier crus. The domaine was created in the 1960s when Pierre Jobard divided his holdings between his two sons, Francois and Charles. In 1991 Charles was joined by his son, who then took charge five years later. The domaine has avoided use of herbicides and chemicals since 1994 and adopted the policy of tightly cordon pruning their vines in order to obviate excessive green pruning later in the season. The wines had been raised in new and used oak (20% new plus one to four-year old) and also 1,200-litre foudres before spending six months in stainless steel vats for bottling in February 2014. I tasted through their entire range of wines, though readers should note that there henceforth there is no Meursault Charmes since the vines were pulled up in 2012. I was really taken by these wines – rather a revelation to this writer since I have only come across them sporadically courtesy of their UK importer. To anoint them with the highest praise, I was reminded of the first time I encountered Jean-Marc Roulot’s exceptional wines, full of aromatic nuance and heavenly poise on the palate. If like me, you are still waiting to become au fait with Remi Jobard, then my advice is the sooner the better. Importer: Peter Weygandt and also Lea & Sandeman (UK)