Tasted with Anne Parent in Pommard, 24 November 2021.
Domaine Anne et Catherine Parent
3 rue de la Métairie
21630 Pommard
Tel: +33 3 80 22 15 08
www.domaine-parent.com
More reports with Anne Parent
Anne on 2021:
“In the Pommards it wasn’t that desperate as we had 30-35 hl/ha but there are areas that were much more heavily hit – in the Bourgognes we had 60% losses. The red Corton was okay but definitely not the white. Ladoix Les Corvées was 50% down and we had late-pruned, only 2 weeks before the frost. It was a bit better in the older vines. For us, I was pleasantly surprised when it came to the triage – we didn’t have to remove that much. So it was a year of challenges and it’s a change of style after the hotter years but I think after destemming everything and using a little less new oak I think we’ve a lovely purity of fruit.”
Anne on 2020:
“In 2020 I chose not to harvest too late. I didn’t want to make wines at 14°, I wanted to keep a natural freshness. The volume was about 30% lower than our targets – but similar to 2019 in that respect. There was such amazing alchemy with the 2020s – you could have even done 100% whole cluster and 100% new oak with the Bourgogne – I love the 2019s but compared to 2020 they had a small deficit of acidity.
“If you’d told me 25 years ago that I’d be working in biodynamics I would have thought you were mad – I believe only what I see – And I can now say that I’m proud that I’ve even convinced some of my friends to make the change!”
The wines…
What an impressive Pommard-a-thon. Excellent wines at this domaine in 2020 and a couple are worth a special search to find…
2020 Bourgogne Selection Pomone
All destemmed and with quite a long elevage in 600-litre barrels.
This nose is a little compact today but there’s the impression of silkiness in this aroma. Nice shape in the mouth, slowly mouth-watering and coming to a mix of florals and minerality in the finish – a wine that just keeps getting better in the glass – a lovely finish – easily the best part today…
2020 Pommard
Bought grapes in organic and biodynamics – in Trois Follots
A little extra freshness and faint spice plus some growing florals – that’s very nice. Extra freshness, more incisive – here is character and good energy. That’s a very lovely wine. Wait 2-3 years – but fine – with a little finishing bitters too…
2020 Pommard La Croix Blanche
Deep soil with brown clay, marls with dolomite limestone, not too compact. Opposite Grands Epenots.
A nose that expands and becomes ever more floral perfumed with swirling. A nice energy here, mouth-watering with interest, more saline in the finish. Tasty wine…
2020 Beaune 1er Les Epinottes
‘Old vines in the main.’
Hmm – that’s a lovely nose – again with lots of florals. Mouth-filling, complex, mouth-watering. That’s very good wine – lovely – slightly saline complexity to finish too…
2020 Pommard 1er Les Poutures
Another biodynamic purchase – it’s been a contract from here for a number of years.
Another fine and perfumed nose – that’s lovely. A more direct style, complex, slightly tannic, though with hardly any grain. Open and easy finishing. Another very good wine…
2020 Pommard 1er Les Argillières
Vines above Epenots
Also quite perfumed but here there is more depth of fruit in support. Hmm, here is a little more padding from the fruit, a nice line of mouth-watering flavour and just a salty grain of ripe tannin. That’s very lovely.
2020 Pommard 1er Les Chanlins
Young vines of 19. A more limestone soil.
Vibrant – floral, darker fruit of clarity – yes! More mouth-filling and energetic – this I love. The structure suggests 2-3 years of patience but you can drink this for the next 20 with joy. Excellent!
2020 Pommard 1er La Croix Noir
There’s some aspects of the previous wine but with a more airy approach – that’s lovely again. Wide, mouth-watering, clean and refreshing – growing in the middle and finishing flavours. That’s got a lot going for it but it’s more for keeping today than the Chanlins. Fine, long, slightly saline finishing again.
2020 Pommard 1er Les Charmots
A biodynamic contract again. Younger vines, in their 20s…
A more concentrated nose but still with some freshness. Extra freshness and energy from this mouth-filling wine. Waves of finishing flavour with an accent of minerality. Lovely again…
2020 Pommard 1er Chaponnieres
Have ploughed here via a horse for many years now.
A deeper nose, quite vibrant and with a faint accent of reduction. Fuller again – here is another level of flavour concentration and complexity – always beautifully balanced. Wide and refreshing in the finish with darker flavours. That’s excellent!
2020 Pommard 1er Les Epenots
‘The most sophisticated wine of Pommard.’ Grand and Petit Epenots assembled
A broader nose, showing, perhaps, a hint of the barrels with an accent of coffee – but only that. Mouth-filling, broad flavoured – the slightly smoky, coffee, oak in the flavour mix too. Very tasty with a different accent – still a super wine.
Bought like previous years and also like the others in organic/biodynamics
Here there is an elegance and softness yet also the depth and complexity of the stems (100% – 100% new oak too). Big in the mouth – energetic wine that’s growing in intensity – but never heavy or dense there’s a class to this delivery of flavour. Contemplative finishing – because there is so much to contemplate. Potentially a great wine – but don’t approach before it’s 10 years old!
2020 Corton Renardes
A larger nose, full of the complexity of the stems – a faint touch of the coffee from the Epenots too. Really very sophisticated in the shape and delivery of flavour – I find the mouth-watering intensity and complexity lovely here.
Finishing with a little white:
From En Rognets et Corton, this and the 1ers probably for bottling from the start of March and into May…
A fine combination of freshness and depth. Here is richness but there’s also width here, width with a fine acidity and energy. A modest but visible width of minerality in support. This needs a bit more time in elevage but everything is here for a great wine – even a faint coat of tannin on the tongue in the finish!