2005 Pommard 1er Cru

From younger vines and effectively the second label of the Clos des Epeneaux, a 2005 Pommard 1er Cru offers a butcher shop nose and a salty, meaty, gamey palate with wonderful depth and richness. Hints of cassis and blueberry emerge, but certainly in the main this wine is not about fruits and berries. Fine tannins offer unobtrusive support, and the wine finishes with fascinating chalk and mysteriously ore-like mineral character. Young Benjamin Leroux took over in 1999 from Pascal Marchand (who made this estate’s modern reputation), and the wines have never tasted better, nor more ageworthy. The domaine has also continued to grow – through purchase and rental – beyond their famous 13 acre core property, the Clos des Epeneaux. The wines had never been racked when I tasted them – that will only happen when they are assembled for bottling (unfiltered) – so allowance must be made for slight reduction. Various Importers. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70.