Pommard En Boeuf AOP 2021

The Pommard En Boeuf AOP 2021 is a Pinot Noir from the heights of Pommard, slender in build with an earthy foundation. Fairly transparent garnet in the glass, with plum, cherry and raspberry on the nose, joined by sumac and barberry. Beneath that, earth, forest floor and undergrowth with a touch of dark chocolate and a hint of fine oak.

The En Boeuf parcel lies in the heights of Pommard, just before Nantoux. Domaine Boris Champy in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune has worked biodynamically since 1984 and was the first estate in Burgundy to receive Demeter certification. Winemaker Boris Champy, who spent ten years at Dominus Estate in Napa Valley before becoming estate director at Clos des Lambrays, took over this twelve-hectare estate from Didier Montchovet in 2019.

Pinot Noir trained in Guyot, with a planting density of around 10,000 vines per hectare. The botrytis pressure of the 2021 vintage called for a solution of its own: Champy fully destemmed the grapes, treated the stems with sulphur, and layered berries and stems as a millefeuille for fermentation. Extraction was gentle, after which the wine aged for twelve months in barrel, one third in new pièces, two thirds in one-year-old oak.

First a fine, charming sweetness, followed by dark fruit, earth, undergrowth and a touch of stone. Toward the finish the acidity becomes more present and agile, while the tannin remains fairly dry. Because Champy largely forgoes extraction, the wine comes across as transparent and slender.

Sausage with sweet-and-sour plums, caramelised onions and baked potatoes. Vegetarian: savoy cabbage and potato pie with chermoula or pasta with smoked aubergine, tahini and roasted tomatoes.

Demeter logo on the label. The approach is minimal-intervention: spontaneous fermentation with natural yeasts, gentle extraction, restrained use of oak. The biodynamic preparations come from a homemade tisanière; around Nantoux the landscape is shaped by hedgerows, stone walls, orchards and sheep.