2018 Domaine Comtes Lafon 'Santenots du Milieu' Volnay

A recent tasting of Dominique Lafon’s 2004 wines taught us what we already knew. He is a bad m-f. He holds up a bottle of his Volnay to a CA Pinot and says, “That’s not a Pinot, THIS is a Pinot.” And he’s right. His 2018 is an amazing vintage of his family's premier cru Santenots du Milieu vineyard: one critic said he thought it might be the equal of the 1978, "the finest red wine from Lafon that I have been fortunate enough to drink." The bouquet is pure and stunning (think: black cherries, sweet dark berries, woodsmoke, bitter chocolate, and dark, wet earth). As focused and powerful as Volnay can be.