2016 Pommard En Brescul

The Ligniers picked on the late side in 2016, beginning on September 28 and finishing on October 5, and most of their cuvées¬ were between 12.8% and 13.5% in potential alcohol. “And the yeasts were very efficient in 2016,” noted winemaker Laurent Lignier, “so the wines very often gained a bit of alcohol during fermentation.” The estate lost just 25% of its normal production overall in 2016, as many of its holdings are in its home village of Morey-Saint-Denis, which mostly dodged the frost. (But Lignier was quick to note that there were some crop losses in Clos de la Roche, Monts Luisants and Les Chaffots in 2017 due to hail on July 10.)

The 2016s were still in barrels at the time of my visit, and they will remain on their lees until May, with the bottling scheduled to take place in July or August. Lignier noted that he’s been doing longer élevage in barrels in recent years, pointing out that in his cold cellar (temperatures do not exceed 58 degrees F. in summer) the wines evolve slowly. The malos took place between May and September of 2017. As to the quality and style of the ‘16s, Lignier describes the wines as “very ripe, but with more red fruits than black. The ‘16s are very precise and they respect their terroirs. In their purity and definition, they resemble the 2010s, but the ‘16s have more flesh.”

The 2015s were bottled without fining or filtration at the end of July and beginning of August of 2017, entirely by gravity and with very low levels of sulfur (about 18 ppm free and between 40 and 50 total). Lignier noted that with substantial tannins and extract, 2015 is not a fragile vintage. Plus, the wines retain high levels of CO2 in barrels because they’re not racked, and the carbonic gas can take the place of SO2 during the élevage. Lignier noted that a rainy day on August 2, followed by two more rainy spells in August, helped to refresh the vines in 2015 and start the sap flowing after a very dry July. “The wines retain freshness but they’re also very rich in ripe tannins,” he told me. He finds the wines “very agreeable to drink now,” but would not be at all surprised if they shut down in bottle. And he finds less differences of terroir in 2015 than in 2016.