2019 Pommard La Croix Blanche

Anne Parent is a grower that I always look forward to visiting, reliably candid with opinions about recent growing seasons and the state of Burgundy. “It was an eclectic year in seasonal terms: autumn in spring, summer in winter, the hot temperatures. There was a lot of millerandé bunches especially on old vines after flowering but there was no frost despite the low temperatures in early April. We lost around 20% to 30% of production, between 40-42hl/ha on average, except on Grand Crus. We started the harvest on 13 September, and it was important to obtain the balance between maturity and phenolic maturity. I was very impressed by the quality of grapes. The acidity was not too low, the pH between 3.35 and 3.45 and the highest alcohol was in [Pommard] Les Chanlins at 13.7°. The malo was between the end of December and February whereas normally it finishes April and May. We did a big déléstage to give some oxygen to the yeast and for the maceration we did mostly remontage but much less pigeage. The 2019 vintage was like 2015 in that you could age the wines entirely in new oak. I decided not to rack too early. None of the wines are racked. I will do that in November.” This was a sterling set of 2019s from Parent crowned by two gems in Pommard, a brilliant Les Epenotes and a supremely gifted Les Chanlins. As Parent herself mentioned, she felt the concentration allowed her to nudge up the new oak percentage and as such, some of the cuvées showed more wood tannins and will require longer cellaring than their 2018 counterparts. Stylistically, these are slightly richer and denser wines than others, yet well balanced and imbued with plenty of freshness thanks to assiduous use of stem addition.