POMMARD

2017 1er Cru Fremiers Domaine de Courcel

EN PRIMEUR

Higher toned than either the Vaumariens or the Croix Noirs. Softer fruit middle. Really quite generous and free flowing for this cellar. More purple and red berries here. Sleeker and easier. Still that power and impact you want from de Courcel - but a softer blow delivers this with some comfort. Drinking range: 2023 - 2029L&S (Nov 2018)

* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.

An attractively fresh and slightly more elegant nose is also quite ripe with its nose of liqueur-like dark berry fruit, spice, earth and soft game nuances. The exceptionally rich, intense and palate drenching flavors possess outstanding size and weight along with imposing power on the driving, rustic and muscular finish. This decidedly old school effort is clearly built for the long-term and I would advise allowing this bad boy at least a decade of aging first. Drinking range: 2037 - Rating: 90-92 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Apr 2019)

Kerpow! The tannin of the appellation plus intense fruit combined. For those who seek maximum impact. Drinking range: 2023 - 2032 Rating: 16+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2019)

Another de Courcel red that sits at the firmer and more structured end of the Pommard spectrum, this has ripe damson and black fig flavours, chewy, mouthcoating tannins, some wild herbs and a backbone of acidity that will help it to emerge from its shell with time. Drinking range: 2024 - 2032 Rating: 94 Tim Atkin MW - Decanter (Jan 2019)

Tighter palate than the Croix-Noires. Lighter soil, less clay. This is elegant and tight. Actually quite fine tannins, plentiful and both silky and a little strict. Spice - notes of anise. It is straight, energetic and pure and long. Rating: 18.5 Sarah Marsh MW, The Burgundy Briefing (Dec 2018)

One of the great domaines of Pommard, with a 400 year history in the same family. The domaine produces a small amount of Bourgogne Chardonnay, a completely over-performing Bourgogne Rouge, a village Pommard (Vaumuriens, 1.44 ha), but the biggest part of the domaine consists of four great Premier Cru expressions of the terroir of Pommard, Fremiers (0.79 ha), Croix Noires (0.58 ha), Grand Clos des Epenots (4.89 ha) and Rugiens (1.07 ha). These represent a very different style to the Clos des Épeneaux of Comte Armand, for example. Yves Confuron, the régisseur, describes the difference between the two top wines by saying that the Grand Clos is 'terreux' while the Rugiens is 'aérien'.

The aim is to limit yields to around 25hl/ha, to attain optimum ripeness. The vines are ploughed, and pruned carefully to suit each one, then de-budded in spring and green-harvested in August to keep the fruit load balanced. Following Yves' usual practice the harvest is late and the vatting is long - usually around a month, with a cold maceration leading into a cool fermentation, and a long post-fermentation soak under the protection of the carbon dioxide given off by the fermentation. The wines are developed in barrel over 21 to 23 months, with a third of the barrels being replaced each year. After racking they are bottled without fining or filtration.

The domaine produces wines with astonishing depth and density that still retain the freshness, just like Yves' own wines at Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot. They are classic vins de garde and patience is advised - and will be amply rewarded.

ORDERING VIA OUR WEBSITE:

  • We will respond as quickly as possible with confirmation of your order and your invoice.

Please note that certain wines are on very tight allocations and will first be offered to customers who buy across the range. If you have any queries, please email our primeurs team or speak to your usual L&S contact.

ORDERING VIA EMAIL:

Please feel free to email us at any time. This list can include wines listed as available on the website, as well as those marked 'To Be Advised'. We will reply as soon as possible with confirmation of what we can offer.

STORAGE OPTIONS:

Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.

While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details.

BURGUNDY EN PRIMEUR FAQ

OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation.

PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats.

DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally, wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering.

DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third-party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £1,000. Please indicate if you would like the wine duty paid and a duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms.

PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.