Domaine de la Commaraine 1er Cru Pommard Clos de la Commaraine Monopole 2018 750ml
Domaine de la Commaraine 1er Cru Pommard Clos de la Commaraine Monopole 2018
Burgundy's New Blood - not to be missed!
Following on from their huge success of the resurrection of the bio dynamic Champagne house Leclerc Briant in 2012 in Epernay, Champagne, and the new-look Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa that overlooks the vineyard landscape north of Epernay, the American couple Mark Nunnelly and Denise Dupré, are now investing heavily in Burgundy. They are working closely with Jean-Luc Vitoux, a former lawyer from Champagne and now a Burgundy wine producer and négociant.
They purchased the Pommard 1er Cru Domaine de la Commaraine estate (10ha) in 2017, along with Domaine Belleville (22ha) in Burgundy’s Rully area. Further more they bought a high quality micro negociant business called 'Les Parcellaires de Saulx'
Louis-Michel Liger-Belair of Château de Vosne-Romanée is on board as consulting winemaker as of the 2018 vintage, working with full-time winemakers Charles Nébout and Isabelle Laurand.
Clos de la Commaraine is strictly terroir-led. The 3.7ha are now split into 10 plots, all harvested and vinified separately. The 2018 vintage is the first under this new regime, and was released in July 2020.
All plots are organic and biodynamic or under conversion. Only the best is used, with 40% off the wine being sold off anonymously under Pommard 1er Cru.
Reveiws:
93/100 Decanter.com
Tasted by Tim Atkin MW(at 2018 En primeur tastings, Burgundy, 18 Oct 2018)
"Louis-Michel Liger-Belair of Vosne-Romanée fame is the consultant for this newly acquired venture, which is well worth keeping an eye on. This is made with fruit from eight parcels covering 3.76ha and is a very complete Pommard from the Beaune side of the village. Wild and appealingly savoury with sweet spice, some gamey notes and fine-boned tannins. - Drinking Window 2023 - 2030"
17/20 JancisRobinson.com
"Monopole. Very pale, rather grey crimson. Not a particularly expressive nose. But quite refined tannins and attractively earthy fruit. Giving this wine the benefit of the doubt, I think it’s holding back for a rather glorious evolution.
Producer Dom de la Commaraine
Cuvée Clos de la Commaraine
Classification Premier Cru
Appellation Pommard
Region Burgundy
Country France
Colour Red
Score 17
When to drink 2028 – 2040
Published on 17 Jan 2020
Date tasted 15 Jan 2020"
Reviewer Jancis Robinson
(91-93)/100 The Wine Advocate, Reviewed by William Kelley, January 2020 Week 2, The Wine Advocate
"The 2018 Pommard 1er Cru Clos de la Commaraine Monopole is the inaugural vintage for this new estate, and 20 barrels were produced, 10 of which were new and the remaining 10 once used. Cropped at 40 hectoliters per hectare and entirely destemmed, the wine has turned out nicely, wafting from the glass with a rich bouquet of wild berries and raspberries mingled with hints of orange rind, woodsmoke and toasty oak. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with succulent acids and melting tannins, concluding with a perfumed and nicely defined finish.
The purchase of the Clos de la Commaraine by Americans Denise Dupré and Mark Nunelly made headlines recently, so this visit with estate director Jean-Luc Vitoux, winemaker Charles Nebout and consultant Louis-Michel Liger-Belair. Long the property of Jaboulet-Vercherre, the fruit of this beautifully situated 3.75-hectare monopole has been sold to Louis Jadot since the 2002 vintage, but now ambitious plans are underfoot. This large, walled vineyard, insulated from outside influences, is ideally suited to organic and biodynamic farming—and will be now be worked accordingly. And Liger-Belair's longtime collaborator, soil scientist and geologist Pedro Parra, has visited to study the clos, which has now been divided into eight sub-plots along geological lines; plots that will be farmed and vinified separately. The 2018 vintage certainly bears Liger-Belair's signatures, with its supple tannins, delicate extraction and framing of toasty new oak, and the wine has turned out very well. I also had the opportunity to visit the château itself, for which there are similarly ambitious plans for a boutique hotel with swimming pool, spa and restaurant. The location is certainly idyllic, even if the scale of the renovation work is daunting, and there's no doubt that the development, when realized, will transform the sleepy village of Pommard."
