2019 Carabello-Baum Chateau de Pommard Clos Marey-Monge 'Nicolas-Joseph'

Full bottle a heavy 1,628 g. Nicolas-Joseph’s 3 hectares are comprised of flat limestone rocks with red clay. Divided into two parts, this plot located alongside the north-eastern facade of the château. Marey-Monge displays the least calcareous soil structure in the Clos. Vines 20–80 years old. Three different bottlings from the Clos were presented in a clearly very expensive box. Hand-harvested organic grapes, hand-sorted on a vibrating table, 20% whole-cluster, fermented in tank, long maceration, minimal pumping-over and punching-down, aged in barrel on fine lees for 18 months. 20% new barrels. 4,000 bottles produced. Mid ruby and perhaps a little darker than the Grands Esprits. This is the least aromatic of the three Clos Marey-Monge 2019s tasted side by side. There's dark-red fruit and a touch of stone dust, perhaps a little more obviously stemmy, thought that may be because the fruit aromas are less intense. The tannins are more chalky here and the texture is thicker, the tannins seeming slightly less fine than on the Grands Esprits. Definitely needs time, as you might expect. For me, more stereotypically Pommard. (JH)