There is outstanding richness to the powerful and velvet-textured big-bodied flavors brimming with ample amounts of dry extract that relegate the firm tannic spine to the background on the mouth coating and hugely long finish. This is a burly and quite serious effort that is not especially rustic and benefited from long cellar time. *Outstanding
Pommard, Les Epenots, 1er Cru 2011. Domaine de Courcel
A long popular appellation, Pommard is yet another exclusive red wine area which produces by far the most structured reds of the Côte de Beaune. It extracts rich body and long ageing potential from the limestone/iron-rich clay soil. Some examples can be markedly rustic, yet as time has passed and winemaking know-how has improved, Pommard's wines are becoming softer and more approachable when young. Its vines cover 317 hectares of which over a third are premier cru vineyards. Several have pronounced following and even one, Les Rugiens, is being pushed to become a grand cru.
