Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Pommard. Like that.


Yes, Pommard. It's one of those things that people who don't know anything about wine know. Like Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Margaux. The word Pommard has a heft to it, a stately ring.

I knew Pommard when I knew little about wine—less about Burgundy, even, than Bordeaux (my early days were curiously canted toward the Loire and the western seaboard of France). Pommard, when I started to gather up the splinters of Burgundy information, well, Pommard was the Côte de Beaune's masculine wine, ruggedly flexing its muscles near the lacy Volnay.

(Then I went there. It was astouding to see a little string of Christmas lights, those villages, so close: a mere kilometer in distance, apiece, from Beaune to Pommard to Volnay to Meursault. But that should be the subject of another, daintily nostalgic post. (I'm sure you all know how dainty and nostalgic I can get, here.))

It took some time for me to debunk the standard Gallic wisdom: Volnay = girl wine. Pommard = boy wine.

I've had a lot of tangly, rustic Volnays (most recently a 2005 from Henri & Gilles Buisson that was angular; though traditionalists might argue that that was the bluestocking version of the feminine Volnay). And there are some supple Pommards afoot.

Witness:

2002 Jadot Pommard. There you go. I wanted pinot. Burgundian pinot. I hankered for it, craved it. So I thought: well, I'm having dinner by myself and it'll be simple and lazy, some goose rillettes and a piece of Camembert*, or something. I uncorked this.

OK, yum. Just yum. Just yum. Silk and lace and (yuck, that's starting to sound like a Victoria's Secret catalog); scratch that. What I mean to say is that it was pure. Vibrant 2002 pinot fruit, little cherries, all the pleasure that a balanced, tasty Burgundy can bring. Glug-worthy, hell.

So if Pommard has to be the man's wine, I'm going to wear a hat and a fake mustache. I have no shame.



*For all of you cheese snobs out there, I gleefully invite you to indulge in an actual good, non-industrial Camembert. The poor thing got so popular for a reason, and despite the fact that 97.99% of today's Camembert is made in a factory in Laval (I approximate), the real thing is great. Perhaps too great for potential moderation, but that is another issue altogether.

11 comments:

Scott Reiner said...

had an 05 Claudine Gaunoux Pommard the other day. mmmmmmmmm....

peter said...

An 02 Jadot Pommard Rugiens opened recently was amazing!

drsugarman said...

Pommard was my first Burgundy experience ... though I admit to a love of things rustic I agree with that not all Pommard are so.

Jeff and Mandy said...

One of the greatest wines I ever had was Comte Armand's 1999 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux at (oddly enough) Paris' Taillevent. Incredible. It was not only my first true Burgundy experience, but the one I still judge the rest against. And it's Cote de Beaune!!! HA!

Jainomo said...

A "man's wine"? I scoff at the claim! I'll gladly admit when a wine is more feminine or masculine, but I would never go as far to say a wine is a man's or a woman's. Ridiculous!

cgomezmoreno said...

This Saturday we had a 2001 Billard-Gonnet - Pommard Les Chaponnieres 1er Cru and despite the supposedly cool/inconsistent reputation the vintage got this was still surprisingly tannic and "chunky" (or "manly", I guess) right after uncorking. After about an hour it was just perfect.

Ah, Burgundy! I wish I could afford it...

romo said...

volnay = girl wine, yes. but pommard = masculine-girl wine. and, as sharon intimates, that's a good thing.

Nancy Deprez said...

Great post, so fun. I love Camembert. And good Burgundy like this glug-worthy one you describe.

The Colorado Girl said...

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J R W said...

Louise Jadot is a super wine house and this wine that you have tastes is a real delight.

You should also try out the Chassagne-Montrachet, Loius Jadot 05 - seriously delicious!

Lance said...

After reading all of these posts I am looking forward to tasting Pommard. I'm a man so I qualify.