2012 Pommard Les Rugiens

Medium red, a bit less deep than the Grand Clos des Epenots. Sexy, multidimensional nose combines scents of dark raspberry, strawberry, mocha, iron, truffle, tobacco leaf and iris. Compellingly full and silky on the palate, conveying a pronounced fruit sweetness but also a firm shape and a solid mineral underpinning. Noble building tannins saturate the palate and front teeth. This wine may yet shut down in the bottle but it's wonderfully complex and satisfying right now.

(the crop level here was a tiny 13 hectoliters per hectare, according to Yves Confuron, and just 9.5 in 2013): Good bright, full red. Captivating, complex aromas of red raspberry, redcurrant, flowers, minerals and mocha. A step up in sweetness and thickness from the Grand Clos des Epenots, but with lively pepper and spice notes giving the wine very good definition and energy. The biggest and longest of these 2012s, finishing with ripe tannins and a lingering note of iron. Very concentrated wine with superb potential.

The 2012 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens has a light and more airy bouquet when compared to the Grand Clos les Epenots – well defined and very pure. The palate is crisp and taut with blood orange infusing the red berry fruit, but the finish is a tight fist of tannins at the moment. Located behind the church in central Pommard, Domaine de Courcel is managed by Yves Confuron, who can otherwise be found in Vosne chez Confuron-Contetidot. The domaine has actually been owned by Gilles Courcel since 1976 although his day-job is over running the negociant Chanson where somewhat confusingly, Yves’ brother Jean-Jacques is head winemaker. The harvest here commenced on 13 September and as you might guess, the problematic growing season devastated yields that were down to just 7 hectoliters per hectare. Yves has clearly done the best he can. As a proponent for late harvesting and whole cluster ferments, these wines seemed to strive for quality and yet the tannic structure seemed to oppress the fruit at the time of my tasting. And there was a part of me that wondered whether less stem addition might have been preferable? This all might be because it was a particularly chilly Saturday morning and so I will seek to re-taste them at a later stage. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400 and through several merchants in the UK.