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Domaine Comte Armand

Having visited the domaine at the height of the 2018 harvest when head winemaker Paul Zanetti was tackling crates of bunches pouring in from the vineyard, I returned just four weeks later to taste the 2017s. “Fortunately, there was no frost in 2017, just a little oïdium and mildew, but it was fine at the end of the season,” Zanetti told me, calmer now that his last harvest was safely in the vats. “I did a last treatment at the end of July to preserve the leaves against mildew, and the sanitary conditions were good when the fruit came in. We cropped up to 45hl/ha for the Village Crus and 35hl/ha for the Clos des Epeneaux, starting the picking on September 3 and finishing on September 11 with the Auxey-Duresses and Auxey-Duresses Premier Cru. It was still important to take out any pink berries, and initially the colour extraction was low, so I thought about making an additional punch-down. Instead, I just kept the grapes at 28° Celsius for 10 days to two weeks, and slowly the colour came and the tannin became more rounded and elegant. Everything was de-stemmed. The Clos des Epeneaux is around 13.5% to 13.8% alcohol. The 2017 is my first vintage using all four blocks of the Clos des Epeneaux [since recent vintages have been affected by frost or hail.] We pumped over this week with a small quantity of SO2.”

The 2017s from Comte Armand show genuine succulence and freshness and precocious style; they are wines designed to give pleasure. The good news is that you do not have to secure an allocation of Clos des Epeneaux to enjoy these wines. Make a beeline for the Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru, a delightful Pinot Noir packed with ripe fruit, or the Volnay Les Fremiets, which exudes purity and precision. As my tasting note indicates, I tasted the Pommard Clos des Epeneaux from three different cuvées due to be blended and bottled just before Christmas, each illustrating their contribution to the blend. Whilst I feel that the 2017 might not necessarily be up there with the greatest vintages, it will be a sensual and saline Pommard that will surely offer a couple of decades of drinking pleasure.

From 2017 Burgundy: A Modern Classic (Jan 2019) by Neal Martin

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2017 Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru

Color: Red

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