POMMARD
2018 1er Cru Clos des Épeneaux Domaine Comte Armand
Tasted as four components, then the blend. The 'young vines' (now 36) in the top of the south side have made a wine that is juicy and firm on limestone pebbles - taut. The vines below, now 55-65 years old, are on deeper soil and the resulting wine is deeper and richer, structured and dense. At the top of the northerly side are old (70+) vines. High up, the wine is sleek and saline, very fresh and mineral - the most complete in itself. The vines below, on deeper soils again, are 80-100 years old and make a wine that is richer yet, but not as lively - but there's chew and density. Exceptionally we also tasted the press wine, which makes up 8 barrels out of 72 - this was as tannic as expected, but as Catherine said, it has 'bitterness without astringency', and amply demonstrates the ripeness of the tannins in this vintage. The Clos blend has richness and energy; the synthesis is lively, expressive, deep with red and black fruit crunch, richly textured and very, very long.L&S (Nov 2019)
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A robust dark red colour. This is powerful but stricter than the 2019. Still very young, a touch more volatile, though not enough to disturb the intense qualities of this wine. The fruit is in dark plums rather than peaches, with a significant heart which will carry this wine through for the long term. This will not give enjoyment for the rest of this decade, but has the makings of a great Clos des Epeneaux that will outstrip the potential of the lusher 2019. Drinking range: 2030 - 2045 Rating: ***** 94 Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy (Jan 2024)
The 2018 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux 1er Cru is much more understated on the nose compared to its peers. Well-defined, with red berry fruit, forest floor, bay leaf and light truffle scents. The palate is well balanced with sappy red fruit, lightly spiced with candid orange peel and blood orange surfacing towards the persistent finish. It does not quite have the pedigree of the very finest 2018s Pommard, but it is clearly well made. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting. Drinking range: 2024 - 2042 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Nov 2022)
A fine bright mid crimson colour. The nose is sturdy, coming after the more elegant 2017, but there is depth throughout, and an increasing weight of fruit to the back of the palate, a mentholated element along with some alpine strawberries, some definite tannins in part from the oak, and excellent length. Rating: ***** Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy (Nov 2021)
The 2018 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux 1er Cru has an exceptionally well delineated bouquet with black cherries, iodine, incense and orange liqueur, traces of mint developing with time. There is still some wood to be assimilated - it just needs time. The palate is medium-bodied with a fleshy opening, gentle grip and superb mineralité. This feels very natural and effortless, a Clos des Epeneaux destined to age supremely well over the next 25-40 years. Wonderful. Drinking range: 2025 - 2050 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2020)
(the 5+ ha Clos is composed of approximately 80% Petits Epenots and 20% Grands Epenots; the vine ages run from 18 to 75+ years of age; 30% new wood). This is the first wine to display an appreciable level of wood influence on the distinctly earthy aromas of plum, black pinot fruit and violet. Once again, the medium-bodied flavors possess a beguiling texture and even better mid-palate concentration thanks to the abundant dry extract that also serves to buffer the firm tannic spine supporting the balanced and beautifully persistent finale. In a word, excellent. Drinking range: 2033 - Rating: 92-94 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Apr 2020)
Cask sample. Quite a price! Transparent crimson. Very dense nose with more layers than most of the 2018 red burgundies I have tasted so far. Pretty rich with grand cru density. Very well done. Actually the best Clos des Epeneaux I remember tasting en primeur. Long, rich, opulent but all in a convincing structure. Very long in fact. Drinking range: 2028 - 2048 Rating: 18.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2020)
Spicy aroma - flowers and touch of exotic spice. Intriguing. Svelte, sweet, layered and deep. Fresh and supple. There is precision and edge. The aromatics are complex. This is an elegant and multifaceted Pommard. Drinking range: 2024 - 2035 Rating: 96 Sarah Marsh MW, The Burgundy Briefing (Jan 2020)
Deepish crimson. Fresher fruited than the Auxey Premier Cru. Still firmly structured, rather dry and demanding at the moment. Drinking range: 2025 - 2032 Rating: 16.5+ Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2020)
One of the best Cote de Beaune reds of 2018. The four blocks that make up the blend of this celebrated Pommard amount to 5.23ha and are aged between 36-100 years. Aged in one third new oak, it has spice and tobacco notes, layers of red berry fruit, fresh acidity and firm, granular tannins. Drinking range: 2024 - 2035 Rating: 96 Tim Atkin MW - Decanter (Dec 2019)
Domaine Comte Armand
A domaine totalling nine hectares, of which the most important part is a magnificent five hectare monopole of the Pommard Premier Cru Clos des Epeneaux, which was put together by Nicolas Marey in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (along with the DRC Romanée Saint Vivant 'Marey-Monge'). These vineyards were all sold, except for the Clos (it now been enclosed by a wall), which came to Jean-François Armand as a dowry when he married Nicolas' daughter in 1826. The Volnay vineyards were added in 1994, followed by parcels in Auxey Duresses.
The current Comte Armand is a lawyer living in Paris, but very supportive of the régisseurs who have looked after this domaine for the thirty years or so that L&S have been buying here. The 1980 vintage, made by one of the many Rossignols of Volnay who was in charge at the time, was for us a great introduction to the possibilities of the great Clos des Epeneaux vineyard. Then came the era of Pascal Marchand, a young Quebecois who came to do a harvest with Domaine Bruno Clair and just never left. He began a period of radical restructuring and the introduction of organic and then biodynamic farming, while making very dark, dense and long-lived wines. Benjamin Leroux, hugely respected amongst growers who approach things from an organic or biodynamic point of view, then took over, and refined this approach and changed the way the parcels of vines are divided up for harvesting, paying less attention to just the age of the vines, and more to the underlying soil types. Claude Bourguignon was employed to provide a full geological survey of the Clos as the basis for this. Under Benjamin the wines of the Clos gained in finesse and precision, while still having the depth and richness expected of a great Pommard.
Both Pascal and Benjamin were keen to expand beyond the confines of the Clos, and the Domaine also has vines in Volnay, and, a particular enthusiasm of both Pascal and Benjamin, in Auxey Duresses, where they are convinced of the great potential of some of this village's undervalued and neglected terroirs. Paul Zinetti, who had worked with Ben for four years, took over in 2014.
The vineyard is cultivated organically (ECOCERT certified) and biodynamically. The grapes are entirely de-stemmed, but left intact, for a five to eight-day cold maceration before the fermentation, which lasts five to ten days, and then the wine remains in the fermenters for between three and fifteen days, depending on the vintage. In most years, the total time with skin contact will be around four weeks, which is longer than most. The wines will then be aged in barrel for between eighteen and twenty-four months, with new wood limited to 30% for the wine from the old vines of the Clos, down to none at all for the village wines.
Paul said from the outset that he wanted to make to make a less tannic wine in the Clos, and one which is more about aromatic length. In this he is continuing the route that Ben was following, but perhaps taking it even further.
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