100% Pinot Noir.
Colour: Intense, deep, black cherry-juice red.
Bouquet: Rich, concentrated aromas of red and black fruit with lovely woody and spicy notes.
Palate: Ample, rich and racy. Beautiful structure with silky tannins, fruity, woody and spicy flavours. Concentrated, powerful and well-balanced, this is a fine wine for laying down.
The perfect accompaniment to roast or oven-grilled meats, rib of beef, rump steak with pepper, marinated game or poultry in sauce, not forgetting creamy Burgundy cheeses that are not too strong.
Serve at room temperature, between 16 and 18°C. (60-64°F).
This Premier Cru can be cellared for 8 to 10 years.
The Pommard vineyards are located on the Côte de Beaune in Burgundy, between the village of Volnay to the south and the town of Beaune to the north. The Pommard appellation only produces red wines, all exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes. The vineyard covers around 300 hectares, including 125 hectares of Premiers Crus.
The ‘Les Poutures’ climat, whose name comes from ‘pastures’, covers around 4 hectares on the lower part of the vineyard, in the middle of the hillside. The soils are composed of ancient alluvium, clay-limestone, well drained thanks to a gravelly bed of rock debris. Iron oxide in the form of veins sometimes reddens the soil. Facing east and south. Altitude: between 250 and 330 m.
Hand-picked, the grapes are first sorted in the vineyard and then in the winery as soon as they arrive. They are then destemmed and crushed before being put into temperature-controlled vats. Vatting lasts 22 to 25 days. Vinification begins with cold maceration (8-10°C) for 5 to 6 days, followed by fermentation with the introduction of Burgundy yeasts, with daily pumping over and punching down of the cap. The wine is then matured in 228-litre barrels, 35% of which are new, for 12 to 15 months.
2020 was notable for its mildness and low rainfall. After a winter with no serious frosts, we went straight into a spring dominated by sunny, dry weather, resulting in very early bud break. Infrequent outbreaks of rain in June and July were not enough to stave off water shortages.
Very high summer temperatures combined with intense sun exposure levels led to the vines gradually falling prey to hydric stress, causing delays to fruit ripening before harvest-time.
Once again, the vegetative cycle was shortened, being almost three weeks ahead of 2019’s. Thankfully, the harvest was saved by the relative cool of the nights. The harvest was of marvelous quality but there was very little juice in the red grapes (reduction of 30 to 50%), and reasonable potential alcohol, despite the heat.
The whites, on the other hand, coped very well with these extreme conditions and yields were very good.
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