Winemaker Notes
Today, Pommard is one of the largest villages in Burgundy. The village is on a slope, in the middle of a group of vineyards facing East or South-East. The soil, a mixture of red clay and limestone, is responsible for the wine's original qualities : good colour, intense bouquet and firm structure. Pommard can only be a red wine, produced from the Pinot Noir grape. To insure low yields, the vines are pruned very short, in the "Guyot" style. The grapes are picked by hand and put in small crates to avoid damage during transportation to the winery. The fermentation occurs in open wooden or stainless steel fermenters. The total maceration generally lasts 15 to 18 days. The wine is kept in barrels for 18 months before bottling. According to the vintage, it is sometimes better to wait at least two years before drinking the wine.
Pommard has a lovely and powerful complex nose reminiscent of black cherries and spices. On the palate, it has a good structure with generous fruit and subtle tannins. This great red Burgundy deserves a more traditional cuisine : red meat in light sauces, game, venison and ripe cheeses will create a rich tapestry of flavours worthy of a medieval feast.
Celebrated as some of the best wine in the universe, red wine from Burgundy, otherwise known as red Burgundy, is Pinot noir. In fact Burgundy is the birthplace of Pinot noir and the source of the planet’s most sensual, delicate, valuable and sought-after Pinot noir wines.
Understanding and enjoying red Burgundy can stay simple, with a basic knowledge of its subregions, become more intricate by dialing down to the villages and vineyards or become a life-long passion, exploring climats (plots of vines), vintages and the post French Revolution land ownership laws. In any case, a fine red Burgundy will display refined nuances of black currant, red fruit, earth, spice, alluring floral aromatics and have great elegance, complexity and longevity.
Most famous, praised and collected of Burgunday are those from the Côte d'Or. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the area now called Côte d'Or was under a warm ocean whose sea floor has, over time, shifted and decomposed into various layers of limestone, sandstone and clay interspersed with ancient fossilized sea creatures. This is what is referred to as the famous escarpment upon which all of the highly sought-after Grands Crus and Premiers Crus vineyards can be found. In other words, from north to south, the best vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux, Nuits-St-Georges, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Volnay follow the path of this ancient sea bed.