POMMARD

(from what Loïc Dugat described as a normal crop for these 70+-year-old vines: just 20 hectoliters per hectare with very little frost; vinified with 50% whole clusters and aging in 60% new oak): Very ripe, slightly high-toned aromas of licorice pastille, blueberry liqueur and blackberry come across as distinctly roasted after the first two Gevrey samples (this fruit was picked at the beginning of the harvest, on September 21). The high-toned character carries through onto the palate, where the black fruit flavors are complicated by red-soil notes of tobacco and brown spices and supported by a firm stony underpinning. This solid, powerful wine boasts serious old-vines thickness of texture with just enough balancing acidity. Finishes with a boatload of tannins but has the sweetness and intensity of fruit to support them. This village wine will probably need a good four or five years of cellaring upon release. Rating: 89-91 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (Jan 2018)

50% whole bunch, a bit less than usual, 67% new oak. Vines 70 years old. First picked. Sweet, rich, heady black-fruit flavours. Very lively and fresh and dramatic. Much more approachable than the Nuits wines with the tannins of Pommard well hidden under all the fruit. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 17.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2017)