Smoky, sweet scents of machine oil mingled with blond tobacco and fresh black fruits rise from the glass of Pousse d’Or 2008 Volnay Clos d’Audignac, which offers juicy satisfaction and tender richness of plum and blackberry pungently tinged with peat and tobacco. Cinnamon, black pepper, and chalk dust add stimulation and additional complexity in a satisfyingly long finish. Patrick Landanger’s recent vintages seem to reflect increasing confidence (not to mention consistency), displaying a sense of restraint while combining richness and transparency to detail. Between the threat of rot and of roasting, he observes, the 2007s required more rigorous sorting than did the fruit from 2008, with a correspondingly lower crop, but Landanger and his crew did an outstanding job in the face of 2007 adversities as well as in 2008. Importer: Langdon-Shiverick Imports, Cleveland, OH; tel. (216) 861 6800 and a Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93