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

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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.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Colour Red

Sweetness Dry

Vintage 2017

Maturity Ready - at best (2021 - 2038)

Grape List Pinot Noir

Body Full Bodied

Producer Domaine Comte Armand

Critics reviews

William Kelley 94/100

The 2017 Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux has gained in depth and dimension with élevage and showed very well from bottle, unfurling in the glass with an expressive, youthfully fruit-driven bouquet of raspberries, cherries, candied peel and rose petals, framed by a subtle touch of new oak. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, velvety and fleshy, with succulent acids and elegant tannins. While this isn't as rich, muscular or gourmand as the 2018, it's an immensely seductive wine that will drink well comparatively young—though readers should still plan on exercising at least a decade's patience.

Drink 2027 - 2055

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (Feb 2020)

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.

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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.

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