Pommard

Prior to more rigid control by the French regulatory committees, the name Pommard was often abused. It had been said in the past that there was more wine sold as Pommard in one week throughout the world than the village produced in one year! As with Chablis, there were to contributing factors. In the first case, the name is easy to pronounce "Pah-mar", two syllables, sometimes with the "d" annunciated at the end of the word and sometimes not. Second, its production is fairly substantial, having over 300 hectares in production and nearly 15,000 hectoliters of wine produced per annum. As a result, inconsistency reigned, and its reputation waned. However, the above describes the past, and the consumer can now be certain of what one will get upon opening a bottle of Pommard. Nevertheless, what is tasted might surprise some. Pommard can be thought of as the Nuits-Saint-Georges of the Cote de Beaune, a muscular, well-colored wine with intense concentration but often somewhat angular in its youth. North of Pommard, the wines of Beaune are medium-bodied and have deep red fruits. To the south, the bouquet of a fine Volnay has pure fruit but also a touch of wildness with aromas violets or underbrush. Pommard has a bit of both, but its nose is more exotic and gamey and its palate is much more firm. Pommard is as muscular as red burgundy gets, and it is not afraid to flex. For this reason, those who drink the wines of Pommard early never get a sense of what the wine can truly be. As anyone who has had ten year old (or more) Pommard from the likes of Comte Armand or Domaine de Courcel can attest, Pommard can be a real treat, masculine always but in the end displaying an array of flavors that is much prized. The vineyards are separated in two by the village itself. Above the village, closer to Beaune, the slope faces south enhancing the fruit's ripeness, and the wine from these vineyards generally show greater integration of tannin and body. South of the village, the wines face the east and reveal the effects of the clay-dominated soil more prominently: intensity, structure and earthy/mineral tones.