2019  

The fame of Pommard in the 19th century earned it the image of a wine that is both forceful and virile. In reality, time, terroir and methods of vinification of Domaine GERMAIN have all combined to create a more subtle reality, a wine that is both richer and more sensitive. Its colour is the deep, dark red with mauve highlights. Its aromas are redolent of blackberry, bilberry, or gooseberry, cherry pit and ripe plum. Often, wild and feline notes develop with age. At full maturity, it tends towards leather, chocolate and pepper. It needs to be given time to open up to its fullest extent and to display its mouth-filling texture, its firm but delicate structure, its fruit-filled mouth, and its chewy tannins, which by then will be properly smoothed down.

1971  Chambolle-Musigny

1971  Chambolle-Musigny (slight wine stained label)

(slight wine stained label)

2013  

2012  Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges

1995  

1990  Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru

Currently bottled as Domaine Anne Gros since 1996 vintage.

2020  Macon Cruzille

2019  Beaumont

Beaumont ---- "From Gamay vines planted in 1978 in the coolest of the domaine's red wine parcels, the 2019 Mâcon-Cruzille Beaumont exhibits notions of red berries, warm spices, smoke, raw cocoa and orange rind. Medium to full-bodied, lively and concentrated, it's deep and sapid, with powdery tannins and a long, floral finish. It was vinified without any destemming. As I wrote of its 2018 counterpart, this is a serious, inherently structured wine, so readers shouldn't be misled by the modest appellation into drinking it too soon: four or five years' bottle age will be richly rewarded." - 92+pts WA ---- "It took me time, I confess, to understand the wines of Domaine Guillot-Broux. These are tightly wound, concentrated whites, framed by chalky dry extract from low yields and intelligent pressing, and they take their time to evolve in the cellar. That's a far cry from the stereotype of the northern Mâconnais - honeyed, facile, giving - but when you visit the vineyards, you understand. Rocky, sloping, enclosed sites at the forest's edge - some recently recovered from its encroachments - are planted with old vines of Chardonnay, Gamay and Pinot Noir, and they've never seen chemical farming. Of course, opening old bottles also helps make sense of these wines: complex, mineral and sapid, it's clear that 20 years is the minimum rather than the maximum at this address. But the rewards of patience, as so often, are considerable; and when you get to know them, it's hard to argue that these number among the region's finest exemplars. As I've written before, Emmanuel Guillot's grapes are harvested by hand, with the whites pressed to barrel directly and the reds fermented in small tanks, often with more than a little whole-cluster inclusion. With the 2019 vintage, taking advantage of market dislocation occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Guillot opted to extend élevage: so most of his whites, having spent a year in barrel, saw an additional six months in tank. Whether or not it's the inherent quality of the vintage, or the fact that those additional six months really seem to help these structured wines flesh out and unwind, the 2019s are the most impressive young wines I've tasted to date at this address, and everything reviewed here comes warmly recommended." - William Kelley, Wine Advocate

1996  Grand Cru

1985  

1995