2019 Bourgogne Rouge

Antoine Jobard stepped into his father François’ shoes several years back and continues to establish himself as one of the top growers in Meursault. “The spring was quite warm,” Jobard told me in his barrel cellar. “The flowering didn’t go so well so we had smaller potential yield, the Village Crus half compared to normal, but it was better for the Premier Crus, around 50hl/ha in the end. We picked from 10 September. They are generous wines, ample and powerful, rounded with good matière [substance]. There is a good freshness. They are difficult to taste today as they were racked and sulphated just a week ago as the malos were late. The Meursaults are still in barrel on the lees. The alcohol levels are between 13.5° and 14.5°. I now have six hectares of red vines that gave very low yields, down to 7hl/ha in Beaune Les Epenottes 1er Cru. It was complicated. They were bottled the previous week. This is a fermage from Domaine Mussy in Pommard that I bought in August 2019, so my responsibility for the 2019s was only in terms of harvesting. I have renovated part of these vineyards in Pommard as there are a lot of old vines and I also replaced unproductive vines. But the basic material is very good. There is Pommard Pézerolles and Soucis that I replanted this year. For the red 2019s I focused on the quality of fruit but for the 2020s I had more equipment, and they were easier to vinify. The reds are all de-stemmed and had just been bottled. I will bottle the whites during November. All the whites received around 10% to 15% new oak.” As Jobard mentioned, this was not an ideal moment to taste his 2019s. Alas, sometimes it is just not possible to rearrange a visit during a packed itinerary, though I have considered this in my assessments. These are very fine whites, especially the Meursault Charmes and Poruzots. Elsewhere, I did find a little inconsistency where the summer heat waves just shaved away some of the potential tension. With regard to the reds, since Jobard had to work with the previous winemakers’ fruit, I can see why some of these were really “testing” grounds for Jobard working with Pinot Noir. I regard these as works in progress and I am more intrigued to taste the 2020s where Jobard has full responsibility and more equipment at his disposal.