Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Just three barrels made from 1 hectare. Glowing deeper purple and certainly a richer fruit on the nose. More density while still clearly being made in the same style, lifted ripe cherry and strawberry at the back, not too tannic.
Barrel Sample: 88-91 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The beautiful 2019 Beaune 1er Cru Epenottes delivers an expressive bouquet of dark berries and plums mingled with orange rind, warm spices and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, ample and perfumed, with melting tannins, lively acids and fine concentration, it will offer a broad drinking window. Best After 2021
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Wine & Spirits
Centered in Meursault and focused on white wines, the Jobard family leased 19.6 acres of pinot noir vines from the Domaine André Mussy in 2019, including the 2.4 acres in Les Epenottes that provide this wine. Antoine Jobard destems the grapes and limits new barrels to 20 percent, presenting a seamless, finely integrated wine. Juicy cassis flavors give it a liqueur-like tone, showing the warmth of the vintage, but the wine stays tight, brisk and refined.
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.