2012 Pommard Les Fremiers

Expressive black cherry and medicine character, chock-full of tannic power, lovely flavour complexity on the palate. Another one that needs very long-term ageing. (RH)

Good dark red. Musky red fruits and a wild leathery nuance on the nose. Sweeter than the Croix Noires but still with a firm spine of wild red berry flavor. More soil- than fruit-driven and already expressive. Finishes with slightly granular tannins. This should provide early interest and age well.

The 2012 Pommard 1er Cru Les Fremiers has another refined, feminine, very pure bouquet with crushed strawberry and raspberry scents infused by touches of rose petal. The palate displays quite tough tannins on the entry. Here, it becomes much more masculine, very tight and firm with a solid, dense, almost opaque finish. This will need time in bottle. 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.