2020 Pommard, Les Pézerolles, 1er Cru, Domaine de Montille, Burgundy
Critics reviews
50% whole cluster, largely from Hubert’s original Clos. Just above 13%. Heady deep purple, peppery on the nose, blended in with a deep coulis de framboise style fruit. Powerful and ripe fruit once again, with physiological elements which are only just ripe. Several of the de Montille reds are showing the paradox of the vintage, one which I think will resolve itself positively.
Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (January 2022)
From a 1.36 ha holding; 50% whole clusters
This too is intensely floral in character with nuances of rose petal, violet and lavender to the subtle spicy red berry fruit scents. There is both excellent precision and verve to the beautifully textured medium-weight flavours that terminate in a clean and sleek, if mildly austere, finale. This isn’t unduly structured but is a wine that will still require at least 5-ish years of forbearance.
Drink from 2028 onward
Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (April 2022)
Closure: Diam
The 2020 Pommard Les Pezerolles 1er Cru contains 50% whole cluster. It has a well-defined and focused bouquet of blackberry, which is quite sensual with a touch of dried orange peel. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fleshy and ripe, maybe not quite a well-defined as the best Volnay with a slightly ferrous finish. Fine.
Drink 2024 - 2036
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (December 2021)
Sandy limestone soils; 33% whole bunch. Cask sample.
Very silky fruit and, despite that Pommard mass, neither backward not sluggish.
Drink 2025 - 2035
Matthew Hayes, JancisRobinson.com (January 2022)
From a lieu-dit on the border with Beaune, this is a silky, elegant wine with none of the slightly rustic edge one associates with Pommard. The fruit is high-toned red berry fruit with a floral edge, and the finesse and velvety texture on the palate are a joy. Winemaker Brian Sieve notes that the profile of the 2018s and 2020s have some similarities, but acidity in 2020s is more evident, accented by an early picking date.
Drink 2025 - 2060
Charles Curtis MW, Decanter.com (November 2021)
About this WINE
Domaine de Montille
The De Montille family has long been a venerable one in Burgundy, though Domaine de Montille’s reputation was properly established in 1947: prominent Dijon lawyer Hubert de Montille inherited 2.5 hectares in Volnay, later adding further parcels in Volnay, Pommard and Puligny. Hubert’s style was famously austere: low alcohol, high tannin and sublime in maturity.
His son, Etienne, joined him from ’83 to ’89 before becoming the senior winemaker, taking sole charge from ’95. Etienne also managed Château de Puligny-Montrachet from ’01; he bought it, with investors, in ’12.
The two estates were separate until ’17, when the government decreed that any wine estate bearing an appellation name could no longer offer wine from outside that appellation.
The solution was to absorb the château estate into De Montille – the amalgamated portfolio is now one of the finest in the Côte d’Or.
Etienne converted the estate to organics in ‘95, and to biodynamics in 2005, making the house style more generous and open, focusing on the use of whole bunches for the reds.
Pommard
The most powerful red wines of the Côte de Beaune emanate from Pommard, where complex soils with a high proportion of iron-rich clay produce deep-coloured, relatively tannic wines. A Pommard that is ready to drink in its first few years is probably not going to be a great example of the appellation.
Two vineyards stand out: the lower part of Les Rugiens, which has been mooted for promotion to Grand Cru status, and the five-hectare, walled Clos des Epéneaux, monopoly of Comte Armand.- 212 hectares of village Pommard
- 125 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards (28 in all). The finest vineyards include Les Rugiens, Les Epénots (including Clos des Epéneaux) and Pézérolles
- Recommended producers: Comte Armand, de Montille, de Courcel, J-M Boillot
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.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
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Description
Mid-slope near the Beaune border, the soil here is predominantly limestone. It gives an elegant and lifted style of Pommard that defies the stereotype of rusticity. There is a real energy here, with precise, ripe red-berry fruit and floral touches. There’s a hint of spice before the limestone makes itself known with a chalky finish.
Drink 2027 - 2042
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