#10 (already!) of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey. It’s the first time I’ve seen this Leroy bottling and within this series it is, perhaps, the most impressive wine yet, relative to it’s appellation:
2000 Domaine Leroy, Pommard Trois Follots
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red. That characteristic Leroy nose (how do they do that?) of well integrated oak set against wild red fruit, almost confiture and rose petals. The fruit is red-coloured and like the other 2000’s quite tannin-forward. It’s as long as the JM Boillot Jarollières 1er cru, riper but less complex. You are left with a smooth coating on your teeth as a reminder.
It’s not really possible to criticise such an accomplished villages wine – really excellent.
Rebuy – Maybe

#9 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2000 J-M Boillot, Pommard 1er Jarollières
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. The fruit on the nose is just as sweet as the previous Rossignol, but it’s darker coloured at the edge with a red core, faint coffee too – very fetching! Less ripe palate than the Rossignol – almost mouth-puckering by comparison with a higher level of tannin. This is, however, very complex in the mid-palate and longer too.
Rebuy – Maybe

The good news of the day is that my en-primeur purchases have just been delivered – though it seems odd timing given that I’ve drunk so much 04 already this year:

• 2004 Bouchard P & F, Volnay 1er Cuvée Carnot
• 2004 D & F Clair, St.Aubin 1er Dents de Chien
• 2004 Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
• 2004 JF Mugnier, Musigny
• 2004 M & P Rion, Chambolle 1er Charmes
• 2004 M & P Rion, Nuits 1er, Les Argillières

I wonder if that was their (Rion’s) plot that the horse was ploughing last Friday(?) Anyway, even better news; my mixed 18 bottles also arrived – so plenty to do between now and the end of the year – I might not even need to buy any more wine this year!

#8 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2000 Nicolas Rossignol, Pommard 1er Les Jarollières
Medium ruby-red. The nose is an interesting mix of high-toned floral elements over an intitially diffuse base of sweet fruit – then I got something more like rubber – others said shitake mushroom! Lovely ripe fruit on the palate, still forward tannin and a mineral aspect at the centre. The finish is medium length for a 1er Cru. Aromaticly this is a super wine, but becomes just a little anonymous from there-on.
Rebuy – Maybe

Wine #7 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2003 Domaine Leroy, Pommard Les Vignots
Deep cherry-red – only slighty paler than the 03 Dugat-Py. The nose is rounder and more forward than the D-P, just a little reduced at the start but there’s lots of disparate complexity. Somehow the palate is also less ‘together’ than the D-P; it’s fresher, got more tannin and lots of coffee-bean in the mouth – significantly more apparent complexity but like the nose, little apparent cohesion. Longer than the D-P; if all the parts come together this could be a very, very good wine.
Rebuy – Maybe

#6 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2003 Dugat-Py, Pommard Le Levrière
Deep cherry-red. High tones over a dense fruit core; initially a little diffuse this tightens and gives a chocolate edge. Very, very impressive concentration with just about enough acidity to carry it and its sandy textured tannins into the finish – those tannins are well-covered by the extract. Medium-plus length, this is very-well crafted – it is immaculately dressed though today it’s hard to communicate with. A very impressive if one-dimensional wine today.
Rebuy – Maybe

#5 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2005 d’Ardhuy, Pommard 1er Fremiers
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. Soft and round, this has a lovely high-toned nose and a very faint caramel-coffee edge. Ripe and sweet palate – again with a lovely extra 1er cru dimension to the fruit. Well balanced with some faintly astringent tannin and a super finish.
Rebuy – Yes – and actually I did!

#4 of my pre-Christmas Pommard odyssey
2004 d’Ardhuy, Pommard 1er Fremiers
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red. The nose has faint cedar and a powdery red fruit aspect of quite some width, depth develops only slowly though I’d like more precision. The palate has just an edge to it, like the acidity is only-just ripe – which would be a surprise considering it was picked at 13.9° natural – on the positive side here you can easily see why this is a premier cru; for the first time we have a wine with more than one dimension on the mid-palate, and nice fruit it is too. There is nothing like the density of the previous Dugat-Py wine, but then this 1er cru is less than half the price of that villages wine!
Rebuy – Maybe

2004 Dugat-Py, Pommard Le Levrière
Deep cherry-red. The nose starts quite reduced with sulfur and hints of mushroom – hard to get at the fruit – slowly it warms to give a bright, high-toned beacon of pure red fruit. The palate has a perfectly (oak) upholstered texture, really impressive concentration, good acidity and surprisingly only a mild grain to the tannin. This is quite mineral and shows a long finish, akin to having (I’m assuming!) a piece of coal in your mouth. From the mid-palate onwards this is much more impressive than the Coche. Very impressive.
Rebuy – Yes

My ‘rebuy’ decision is based purely on the quality of this wine with respect to its appellation – note that I didn’t take the cost of the bottle into consideration! Given my previous experience with Dugat-Py’s 2004 Vosne-Romanée, I would suggest opening 8 hours before serving or very vigorous decating/aeration 1-2 hours before drinking.