Yvon Clerget - Pommard Les Rugiens 2019

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Pommard wine is produced in the commune of Pommard in Côte de Beaune of Burgundy. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Pommard is only used for red wine with Pinot noir as the main grape variety. There are no Grand Cru vineyards within Pommard, but several highly regarded Premier Cru vineyards. The AOC was created in 1937.

In 2008, there were 321.69 hectares (794.9 acres) of vineyard surface in production for Pommard wine at village and Premier Cru level, and 12,892 hectoliter of wine was produced, corresponding to just over 1.7 million bottles.

The AOC regulations also allow up to 15 per cent total of Chardonnay, Pinot blanc and Pinot gris as accessory grapes in the red wines, but this is not very often practiced. The allowed base yield is 40 hectoliter per hectare. The grapes must reach a maturity of at least 10.5 per cent potential alcohol for village-level wine and 11.0 per cent for Premier Cru wine.

Pommard wines are typically among the most powerful and tannic of the Côte de Beaune wines, providing a clear contrast to the light and elegant Volnay wines from the neighboring village.

Yvon Clerget Description

"The reborn Domaine Y. Clerget could very well turn out to be one of the great recent success stories in Burgundy… Readers should do whatever they can to taste these wines. [Thibaud] Clerget is just 28 and appears to have a brilliant career in front of him. Bravo!"-Antonio Galloni, Vinous

The Clergets have been working their vineyards for generations until 2009 when Yvon announced he was going to retire. They began selling all of their fruit to Henri Boillot while Yvon's son Thibaud continued to study and learn more about vineyard management and winemaking while working with Henri Boillot and Hudelot Noellat. Pretty good places to learn! In 2015, the Clergets stopped selling their fruit and Thibaud produced and bottled his first wines under the Domaine Yvon Clerget label.

Thibaud Clerget is the winemaker, in his 30s by the way, and oversees top premier cru vineyard holdings in Volnay and Pommard to go along with a tiny parcel of Clos Vougeot from Grand Maupertui in the upper section of the Clos next to Anne Gros and Meo Camuzet!

Inside Burgundy: 92-94 Points

From Les Rugiens Haut, with 20% new wood and 20% whole bunches. Slightly lighter colour, a quiet, but refined nose, Thibaud Clerget is not looking to make a monster Pommard here. The second half of the palate shows the weight of fruit, at the moment quite oaky, but there is a wealth of fruit to back this up. - Jasper Morris

Vinous

“I absolutely adored Clerget’s 2018s. I would go as far to say that here I found some of the finest expressions of Volnay, wines surfeit with purity, terroir expression, vibrant fruit and at times, quite ethereal levels of precision – remarkable given the type of growing season. Some of the cuvées are very limited in production, down to a barrel in a couple of cases, but do whatever you can to get hold of one. Who’s to bet against Yves Clerget’s name ranking alongside the likes of Lafarge in the future? Maybe it already does.”

-Neil Martin, Vinous