Tasted 13 October 2021 in Puligny with Michel Pernot.

Domaine Pernot Paul et Ses Fils
7 Place du Monument
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 32 35
www.domaine-pernot.com (not yet online)
More reports with Domaine Paul Pernot.

Michel Pernot on 2021:
“The harvest wasn’t bad for the villages – in the flat areas – but all the vines on the hillsides lost 80% to 90% on average. We normally have around 60 barrels of Folatières but there was only 9 in 2021! Fortunately, Bienvenues and Bâtard are more in the plain, where we lost only about 50%!”

​Michel Pernot on 2020:
“2020 brought less stress than in 2019 where there was always something, like rain during flowering, heat stress and a small volume at harvest! 2020 also had a dry period but we already had more grapes on the vines – like in 2018 but with very different grape analysis. We had a bit less in the reds but the yield for the whites was fine. We started harvesting 20 August and finished in August too – we’ve never seen that before – but I couldn’t be happier with the wines. They were all bottled at the same time – the end of July. I think it’s a magnificent vintage with good acidity – I like it, it’s been a while since we’ve had this style of wine. ”

The wines…

Always a dependable, steady, range here – sometimes excellent and with the occasional great wine.

All DIAM seals here, since 2017, a mix of 5s and 10s.

2020 Beaune Clos de Dessus de Marconnets
All destemmed
A tight nose but silky red fruit can be found here. Direct, bubblingly fresh with a touch of oak and plenty of minerality. This is quite sleek and could do with showing a little more concentration – but perhaps that will come – it’s certainly nicely juicy wine that begs you to take another sip. Finishing with a slightly floral inflection.

2020 Beaune 1er Teurons
A touch less colour. This nose a little warmer and wider. Fuller – even more juicy wine – here with a small tannic grain and more depth of flavour. Showing more today – this is good.

2020 Volnay Les Carelles Sous la Chapelle
Old vines here – ‘they were already old when we bought the parcel – 1967-68’ – usually one of the last parcels harvested
Just a little more depth to the aroma here. More structural too but also with ore layers of flavour. This to wait for but the best of these I think.

Les Blancs:

2020 Bourgogne Aligoté
From the commune of Puligny, close to Route Nationale in the direction Corpeau. ‘We dont know the age of the vines as they were bought quite a time ago but they are at least 80-90-years-old and always with a small yield.’ The last harvested with Santenay and Beaune villages (sold)
Swirling brings a nice fresh and clean style to the nose – suggesting it will be good drink. Mouth-filling, mineral, super freshness. I like the energy here – the length is good too.

2020 Bourgogne Côte d’Or Chardonnay
5 parcels including a lieu-dit Champ Canet which is next to the 1er of the same name and Chalumaux but Bourgogne classified.
Hardly open but the clarity and purity here is lovely. Fuller, sweeter – a mineral aspect – this is easier to approach today and is completely delicious!

2020 Puligny-Montrachet
The big assembly of multiple parcels – between 55 and 60-year-old vines
Again a tighter nose. This wine is more concentrated but also taught – I like this combination. Holding a very good and quite mineral finish – rather wide too. That’s very good and shows the necessary ‘tension.’

2020 Meursault-Blagny 1er La Piece Sous la Bois
François Frères Troncais barrels, from ‘haute gamme’ – 30% new barrels, the rest 1-3 years old. Whereas the bourgognes are all old barrels up to 8 years old.
Higher tones, a more open nose – that’s very good. Fuller more open energy – here is extra class – richer fruit but lots of energy to balance. This is the first I think excellent! It’s great finishing too.

2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Garenne
Always a little more power here – the clos shared with Magenta/Jadot. Planted in 56…
A little more open – a fine almost granular aromatic complexity here – that’s fine. Larger, more structural, less fleshy. Framed with a fine grain of tannin. Very long.

2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Chalumaux
Bottom of the vineyard, red soil. Above is a more meagre soil with more silex – it’s an old cleared wood, we think it less interesting there.’ Oldest vines of the domain, planted in 1954 but the vines still suffer from the dryness as you quickly hit the mother rock.
A little more open and with more aromatic dimension showing today. An extra burst of flavour energy here – this is showing very well indeed. The finish narrows more quickly than most but holds just as well – a long diminuendo here. Lovely wine.

2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Folatieres
3 areas Peut Bois, Clos and the hillside – 3.5 ha
Restrained but with a lovely width of aroma here all the same. More mouth-filling and round – the minerality is more obvious today. Slow waves of finishing flavour here. Excellent wine – this more to wait for.

2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Pucelles
A little more oak, maybe 35% vs the 20% of the previous 1ers
Still not a really open nose but there’s quite some minerality in the width. Melting over the palate, mineral but sinuous and still accommodating. Wide, lip-smacking, interesting in the finish. Love the feeling of this in the mouth.

2020 Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet
2 vines – 263m long rows – the longest of the domaine! Including Bâtard on the end of the same line
Here is a more airy aromatic but with a purity of lemon-citrus too. Larger on the palate, layered. Growing in volume, rolling waves of finishing flavour. Proper grand cru finishing too!!!

2020 Bâtard-Montrachet
A large plot was replanted after the frost of 2016. Vines in both Puligny and Chassagne – ‘our only one in Chassagne – but due to the replanting it’s currently just the Puligny that’s in this wine.’
Here is easily the most powerful nose. Mouth-filling, a very mineral style, there’s density without being ‘dense’ a wine that slowly, slowly melts over the palate. Michel doesn’t like to wait too long to drink his wines – even a grand cru like this he thinks will be great in a couple of years but he’d be most happy to drink it after 4-6 years.