Château Pommard – 2014

Update 29.6.2021(23.12.2015)billn

DSC08923Tasted in Pommard with Emmanuel Sala, 08 December 2015.

Château de Pommard
15, rue Marey Monge
BP 30018 – 21630 Pommard
Tel: +33 3 80 22 12 59
www.chateaudepommard.com

Since Michael Baum* bought the château you might be forgiven for seeing not much change – but that’s clearly just on the surface. He is often in the region and I see him flitting from domaine to domaine in his red Tesla – probably as much to judge his ‘positioning’ as to accumulate more knowledge and contacts in the region. There are plans in preparation to convert the château into a hotel and also develop a new restaurant – all of which will require very significant investment. In the range of wines available, you may note only one change, the availability of one more cuvée, only available in magnum, this is the cuvée Simone from one particular plot of the Clos du Château Pommard.
*Michael Baum’s career has focused on digital sales, working for both Yahoo and Disney with responsibility for their e-commerce operations.

Emmanuel on the last vintages:
“In 2015 we achieved yields of only 27 hl/ha, but it was certainly an easier vintage than 2014 – 50% hailed and only 20 hl/ha in the tanks. But 2014 I love, a vintage similar to 10 with fine freshness and balance but certainly ripe. 2009 and 2010 were immense here, whereas 2011 was more like 2007. 2012 was fabulous, but the 2013 hasn’t yet finished elevage.”

Over a hectare of vines have been pulled out this year, vines that generated concentrated juice, but it wasn’t possible to continue with such low yields – and that was before the hail.

The wines…

We wandered through the barrels of the 14s, noting that the 13s have also not yet finished their elevage. The fourteen looks like it will be very good – but first they have to finish the 2013!

2014 Cuvée Paules
13 months elevage, planted in 2001, from new barrel.
Some oak spice, a floral impression too. Wide, serious but with good texture. Deep, dark fruit flavours, one could say

2014 Cuvée Jeune Chantrerie
Bigger, rounder, an enveloping nose – a hint of subtle reduction too, but very impressive for young vines. More structure but width and excellent dimension too. Really impressive. But very classic Pommard with none of the negative connotations – really impressive length too.

2014 Cuvée Nadine
Deep soil no limestone. Bottom of the clos closest to Bourgogne.
This shows a little spice from the oak, but this has a finer fruit aroma that runs through the core of the wine with some flowers too. In the mouth too this is a very floral and long with good but larger structure.

2014 Cuvée Grand Champs
Moving here from 2% active limestone in the last, to 40%.
Deeper colour. Bright, fresh and mineral and quite complex too. Super energy, direct, much higher quality, with all the extra structure and faint floral notes. Intense in the mid-palate and finish.

2014 Cuvée 75 Rangs
In Grands Champs with the most limestone, massale planted in 1962 on pinot droit but with very small grapes.
A more elegant, airy nose yet still deep with fruit – slightly iodine. Ooh, this is lovely, really complex dark red fruit, some elegance, and then a little barrier of structure before the long, mineral fruited finish. Really super…

2014 Cuvée Paules Vieilles-Vignes
Same area as first wine, planted in 1943 – not so much court noué here.
Deep, finer textured nose than many, faintly spiced. Lithe, fine flavoured, complex, really excellent wine here.

2014 Cuvée Vieille Chantrerie
100 yo vines.
Just a faint reduction, silky floral fruit. A beautiful wine, which is vibrant, elegant yet still with a fine tannic base. Follows long into the finish. The best! – So far!

2014 Cuvée Simone
Deeply coloured. A bright vibrant core of fruit, more red than black with a faint gun-smoke. The principal difference here is that the wine is more ‘spherique’ beautiful melting flavours, perhaps a little licorice on the finish. Excellent

All the cuvées assembled (Grand Vin 2014):
Good colour. Deep wide, more guarded dark red fruit. Round, the tannin more modest than some of the biggest. A super line, a river of mouth-watering flavour through the core of the palate. More discreet but very long finishing. Tasty wine indeed – this leaf day isn’t great for tasting the assembly says Emmanuel! Last drops in the glass have a fabulous florality.

Second wine 2013 in barrel:
Rather reduced – gun-flint but big and textured too. Fumé a little. Round more elegant today than 2014 and still with impressive length. Still in barrel, and may do 30 months like this.

2013 Grand Vin
Deep but also some floral accents to the ample, cooking red fruit. Finer textured, fresher, direct, indeed frank, with complexity from the mid-palate, the form widening. Lovely mouth-watering flavour in the finish. Indeed here is where it excels.

2011 Grand Vin
Deep but pretty red fruit notes, subtly smoky. Here you get straight to the wine with much less intermediate structure – ample, almost a richness of fruit, modestly complex, charming and very tasty. Just a discreet dryness in the finish. Excellent, open, supple and giving…

2012 Grand Vin
Striking, deep, almost perfumed nose. Not almost, very! Large in the mouth, round finely textured a lithe delivery of fine flavour a sense of whole-cluster despite that all was destemmed(!) Really striking and impressive wine. Super!

2011 Cuvée Simone
Magnum.
No colour development. A brightly floral nose, really mouth-filling, good weight, and a good texture too, a velvet impression, dark fruited, only slowly mouth-watering. A very good Pommard but apparently not to the level as delivered by the 2012 Grand Vin – but, very, very tasty without doubt. Subtly but excellently long… The nose gets better and better, and now there’s another dimension in mid-palate too – actually this is getting better and better in the glass.

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