PAUL PERNOT

PAUL PERNOT: THE IMPORTANCE

When it comes to Puligny-Montrachet, Jasper Morris MW reports in “Inside Burgundy”- Domaine Paul Pernot “could be the outstanding domaine of that appellation”. The domaine is unquestionably one of the top handful of growers in the appellation, his Pulignys have exquisite delicacy and poise but with the structure to age gracefully.

At present the majority of the wines are sold on to extremely fortunate négociants in Beaune. The remainder the domaine retains and bottles under their own name; it’s the absolute crème de la crème and quintessentially representative of Puligny Montrachet at its best. Now home to the seventh generation to work the land, this incredibly traditional producer has barely changed in the last four decades, testament to the old adage: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

PAUL PERNOT: THE INSIGHT

The wines are all picked by hand and the pickers instructed to select only healthy and ripe grapes “just the ones they would like to eat”. The juice is then immediately pressed from skins on arrival at the winery, settled for a day and fermented 100% in barrels. During vinification all the wines are treated exactly the same from Bourgogne Chardonnay to their Grand Cru sites. There is a restrained use of new oak as well as a relatively short élevage of 11 months. This is all done to preserve the maximum typicity of their different soils. There is also minimal battonage perhaps just 2 or 3 times during this time to help start the malolactic fermentation. The wines are fined in the 10th month of élevage and lightly filtered before bottling. Barrels are only ever lightly toasted and sourced from top Burgundy cooperage of Francois who works directly with the domaine and adapts their barrels according to each vintage.

PAUL PERNOT: THE BACKGROUND

Domaine Paul Pernot in Burgundy terms is a fairly large Estate with a total of 20 hectares under vine and is the largest owner of Puligny Montrachet vines second only to Domaine Leflaive with 15 hectares in total. The domaine wines of Pernot include the Grand Crus Batard-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet and the top Puligny Premier Crus of Les Pucelles, Les Folatieres, Clos de la Garenne and Champ Canet. The vineyard holdings in Les Folatieres are impressive at 3.08 hectares. They also produce a Meursault 1er cru Blagny. Worth noting the basic Bourgogne Chardonnay produced at the domaine comes from old vines planted in 1975 bordering the Puligny village demarcation lines.