0 0

2017 Pommard, Clos des Epeneaux, 1er Cru, Comte Armand, Burgundy

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Pinot Noir
William Kelley
92-94/100
Add to wishlist
Product: 20171026524
2017 Pommard, Clos des Epeneaux, 1er Cru, Comte Armand, Burgundy

Description

As usual, older and younger vines are harvested and vinified separately. Tasted apart, the junior wine is lush and driven by red fruit; the senior partner principally shows the density of old vines. Essayed in a 55-45 young-to-old-vine blend, the dark, sweet fruit of the old vines is to the fore but kept mobile by the energy of the young vines—an awe-inspiring double act.

Paul Zinetti was realistic yet confident in the quality of his 2017s. Such an early harvest, which started in Volnay Frémiets on 3rd September and ended in Auxey on 11th September, provided new challenges which Paul addressed creatively and sympathetically. The wines were fruity and direct, but he found that colour and structure were slow, so he kept the wine on skins for a week or more after fermentation.

There is less whole-bunch this year as the stems weren’t always fully ripe, but his de-stemmer preserves a lot of whole berries anyway. He will bottle all the reds before Christmas without filtration, but he will try some fining to round out the tannins.

Drink 2025 - 2033

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2017
Alcohol % 13.5
Grape List Pinot Noir
Body Full Bodied
Property Domaine Comte Armand

Critics reviews

William Kelley 92-94/100
The 2017 Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux wafts from the glass with aromas of plums, wild berries, warm spices, orange rind and dark chocolate. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, ample and nicely integrated, with good depth and concentration, succulent acids and an elegant sense of completeness. I tasted both an old-vine component, a younger-vine component and a representative blend of the two, the latter being finer than merely the sum of the parts. It's a classy Clos des Epeneaux in the making and one that will attain its plenitude before the 2016 and 2015 renditions.William Kelley - 31/01/2019
William Kelley, RobertParker.com (Jan 2019)

About this wine

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or. Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Domaine Comte Armand

Owned by the family of the Comte Armand since 1825, Clos des Epeneaux is among Pommard’s most revered vineyards. Post-phylloxera, it wasn’t replanted until 1930. Further vineyards were acquired in ’94: Auxey-Duresses, Auxey-Duresses Premier Cru, Volnay and Volnay’s Frémiets. The modern era effectively began with Pascal Marchand, who was succeeded as winemaker by Benjamin Leroux. When Ben left in 2014 to focus on his own business, Paul Zinetti took the reins.

Need help?

Delivery and Quality Guarantee