Pommard "En Brescul" AOC 2022

A Pinot Noir of cool precision: juicy red fruit, fine-grained tannin and taut acidity, built lean and aimed at length rather than richness. A Pommard that reveals its structure without ever turning broad.

The En Brescul parcel lies in Pommard, on the Côte de Beaune. The Lignier family's true home is elsewhere: in Morey-Saint-Denis, on the Côte de Nuits, they have been farming vines since the 1880s. Jacques Lignier bought land there back then that phylloxera had devalued, and his son Jules replanted it. Hubert Lignier took over in 1959 and began bottling his own wines in 1973. Today Laurent Lignier runs the domaine as the fifth generation; he returned to Morey in 2010 and had reunited the estate by 2013.

Pure Pinot Noir. Synthetic treatments disappeared from the vineyards in 2007. In the cellar, since 2008, gravity alone moves the wine, from the must all the way to the bottle, without any pump. Long, cool maceration periods precede fermentation, the proportion of whole clusters has grown over the years, and the use of new oak has been scaled back and spread across four coopers so that no single barrel leaves its mark on the wine.

Upfront sour cherry and raspberry, followed by redcurrant, violet, undergrowth and a touch of black pepper. The body stays compact and taut, the tannin fine-grained, the finish long and clear.

With braised leg of lamb, duck breast with lentils or boeuf bourguignon. Porcini risotto and mature Epoisses also suit the wine well.

Organically farmed vineyards, gravity-flow cellar without a pump, deliberately restrained use of new oak. 12.0% Vol., dry, 750 ml.