The medium ruby-colored Volnay Champans has a creamy cherry-scented nose and an outstanding, sweet, medium-bodied, and supple character packed with ripe black cherries and minerals. This lovely and well-focused wine should be at its peak from its release to 2003. The score, on a range and in parentheses, indicates that the wine was tasted from barrel. Jacques, Marquis d'Angerville produced stupendous wines in 1996. When we met in mid-November, just a few weeks after the unexpected death of Gerard Potel of Domaine de la Pousse d'Or fame, d'Angerville seemed to be emotionally torn by his excitement over the "excellent millesime" and the sorrow he felt over the loss of his friend and colleague. Importer: Seagram Chateau & Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel (212) 572-7725.