Pommard Dinner

An event put together to allow multiple people to sample the evolution of Pommard.

• 1961 Domaine Michel Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Épenots 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  By some way the oldest bottle of the night, and had some of the trappings of a wine with that much age. Considerable sediment, and some cork debris could also be detected in the glass. By jigging the glass around it was mostly possible to avoid these fines. Translucent at the rim of the glass, but the core still red-orange hues. Nose exhibited some acetone.
  
  Palate was much better than the nose. Tea and barberries formed the core of the flavour profile, slight disjointment now that the tannins have all but evaporated but there is still some acid owing to the concentration that this wine must have had when bottled all those years ago. Not one you should spend a long time drinking, too much oxygen meant it soured and the structure fell apart around 90 mins in.
  
  A total rarity that I am likely to never drink again, very grateful for the opportunity and a fantastic start to the night.

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• 2018 Leclerc Briant Champagne Abyss 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  I want to caveat this with the point that I have had this champagne three times now, and have come to the conclusion that (though, to some palates, it is excellent) it is not the style of champagne that is ever going to really win me over. Though CSimm is almost certainly correct about the gimmick of the wine storage, there is certainly a saline quality to this champagne, which does a great job of cutting through whatever yeasty of bread qualities this champagne might otherwise exhibit.
  
  Perhaps this is blasphemy, but actually this bottle felt a touch boring.I believe it will be a real beneficiary of more age than the Community drinking window suggests, this champagne has the potential to be more better than it is if it can round out and the exuberant energy calms a bit. Drink 2030+

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• 1990 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  My sentiments echo a combination of the previous two tasting notes. There is no way to guess the age of this wine by visual inspection alone, somewhere closer to garnet than ruby, a purplish hue with minimal bricking on the edges. After the openness of the 1961 Ganoux that came before it, this felt very austere on the nose indeed, even after a healthy dollop of air to loosen things up. There was some woody characteristic an hour plus into the experience.
  
  When it comes to the palate itself, there are two main oddities. Where there was favour, it was that of a fruity cola - slightly confected but also a touch herbacious. Acid also added to the perception of a youthful wine is that there was still pronounced acid. Not that it mattered a jot, this wine was still blighted by coarse tannins which could not be shaken.
  
  This is going to be like the great Burgundies of the 1970s, it will eventually come around but most likely not in this decade. Not sure the underlying qualities make this worth the wait, but for those already locked in it is worth waiting.

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• 1999 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  This was such an impressive wine, the first vintage under the stewardship of Benjamin Leroux and what a performance it was. Much like the 1990 Armand that came just before it, there was no bricking on the edge but the colour itself here was lighter. This had such finesse and concentration of red fruit that you could not possibly shake the belief that we were witnessing a bottle in the absolute peak of its powers.
  
  Because this was 1999, this does not risk being a pure fruit bomb, and is balance through lead and some umami. Also because it is 1999, I cannot help but love what this wine has to offer. No hiding my bias for this vintage, though probably not for the supposed Burgundy 'purists' whose sole descriptors are red and dark. You will be able to drink it for years to come, but get around to it now to catch a wine in the peak of its powers.

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• 1998 Maison Leroy Pommard 1er Cru 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  Though this is a 1er Cru from a vintage which is not traditionally celebrated in Burgundy, this bottle managed to rise towards the top of the discussions for what made up the wine on the night. Very funky smell upon opening, which according to the two real Burgundy experts at the table that night was typical of the vintage today.
  
  Surprise surprise, Leroy wine gives way to stemmy characteristics on nose and palate alike. Both at the top of the order and in the finish this had an impressive amount of both sweet and sour cherry, tannins were nice and firm even now and there was nothing about this bottle that indicated it was in decline. Until, after about two hours of air, it decided to fall apart entirely. Not a wine for the slow ox gang, but very nice in the short term.

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• 2019 Domaine de la Commaraine Pommard 1er Cru Clos de la Commaraine 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  This was the first bottle of the tasting which is from the 'new normal' when it comes to Pommard. You could tell because really, this was not much like Pommard at all. The nose was almost new world in quality, had a degree of stewed fruits and spice and a confected quality. Surprisingly dense red fruit, perhaps the product of the vintage characteristic, and what tannins were there were both smooth and unintrusive.
  
  Though this was very nice, I suspect the more recent vintages are likely to be of higher quality (and where the longer term effects of Louis-Michel Ligier-Belair can be felt). I actually think these are going to be better drunk young, though the concetration of fruit means you will be fine to cellar them in the hopes of developing nuance.

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My votes for WOTN:

1st: 1999 Comte Armand
2nd: 1998 Maison Leroy (specifically between hour 1 and 2)
3rd: 2020 Kei Shiogai

Even though it was not the best wine on the night, I felt that the 1961 Ganoux evoqued the most emotion.