Winemaker Notes
The chalky and clayey soil colored in red by ferrous oxide gives Pommard its color, solidity and fine aromas. On the nose, fruit aromas coupled with wilder animal notes expressed on an oaky touch. This is a robust, solid wine with a present tannic structure.
Pairs well with red meat in sauce, game, venison, and full-flavored cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This is a blend of fruit from two estate parcels (Clanlain and Combe), with 20 percent coming from other plots farmed by Bouchard; all of the vines are between 50 and 70 years old. The wine is fresh and tightly built, a powerful young Burgundy that needs patience in a decanter or long aging in bottle to show itself. The oak presence comes first, with sandalwood scents over grapey intensity. Then, as it unpacks, the wine shows the gracious aristocracy of Pommard, a delicate power built on layers of floral tannins and luscious dark fruit.
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Wine Spectator
This is ripe and juicy, with bright acidity defining the black cherry, plum, oak spice and fruit cake aromas and flavors. Hints of licorice and leather flash on the lingering aftertaste. Drink now through 2033.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I underestimated Bouchard's 2017 Pommard 1er Cru just after bottling, and the wine has opened up in the last eight months to present quite a different picture. Revealing a rich bouquet of cherries and wild berries mingled with rich soil tones, smoked meats, spices and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and charming, its generous core of sapid fruit framed by ripe tannins. Any asperity that I perceived in the spring has vanished.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Representing some of the darkest, deepest and sturdiest Pinot Noir of Burgundy, Pommard is one of the two villages in Côte de Beaune—along with Volnay—that is recognized for its impressive Pinot Noir. While it can’t boast any Grands Crus vineyards, its extraordinary Premiers Crus vineyards are aplenty.
Les Pézerolles, Les Épenots, Clos des Épeneaux, Les Chanlins, Les Jarolières, Les Fremiers and particularly Les Rugiens are among the most outstanding Premiers Crus.
The best Pommards will be concentrated in flavors such as black cherry, blackberry and dark chocolate, have dazzling aromas of violets, menthol or wild herbs and a firm and powerful finish. They typically demand some time in the bottle to reach their peak.