Pommard, Clos de la Commaraine, Monopole, 1er Cru, 2024

Take off time! Complex and floral with notes of sweet rose and fine red berry fruit, fine layers and an extra layer of aromatic complexity over anything that has come before in the range. It reminds me of Clos des Lambrays, all tender fruit, complexity and gentle persistence. Sumptuous, yet delicate, gently structured yet complete. And there’s real length too. The sweetness of the tannins belies the volume of sheer internal architecture. A floating, haunting, complex Pommard that totally flies in the face of what so many suppose Pommard to represent. Superb plus. “Having the eight plots really helped us in 2024 with the picking dates” Paul explained. “We can see that the plot-by-plot approach works. Furthermore, more than a third of the Clos was planted just after WW2, before the arrival of clones. For the past three years we’ve been studying everything about this massale selection, how many clusters, dates of flowering, susceptibility to mildew, and so on, and we’ve now identified around 300 plants from which to propagate.” The future of the Clos would appear to be in very safe hands.