2020 Pommard Les Vignots

Reaching Domaine Michel Prunier was no easy task, as the entire village of Auxey-Duresses was blocked off for drainage works. I got there in the end and tasted with winemaker Estelle Prunier. “We picked on August 20, one month before we picked in 2021,” she told me. “My father had never seen this before. We finished in early September in Haute-Côtes de Beaune. The warm temperatures were in August, when it was very dry. That is why the grape maturity was unusual – because water evaporation caused the berries to concentrate, whereas 2019 is more balanced. We had warm temperatures several times in short bursts in 2019 and we had rain at the right moment.” This is an old-school producer, little changed since when I first visited over 20 years ago, long before I was writing. Their Premier Crus are worth hunting down, as they represent good value. I feel that there is untapped potential here.