2016 Pommard Les Rugiens 1er Cru

Thibault Clerget hosted my tasting on the second floor tasting room in Pommard. Over the last decade, he has become one of the leading exponents of wines from Volnay and Pommard (as an aside, sadly, a 1961 Pommard Rugiens made by his grandfather was out of condition at a private dinner that same week, though I have on good authority that ancient bottles can be sublime.) In recent years he has expanded his holdings, constructed a smart new winery and is now applying échelas (stakes) in some of his vineyards. On this occasion, we did not taste the whites as they had just been filtered.

“I did not do a green harvest as I do a strong de-budding,” he tells me. “Also, we do strict sorting at reception. Yields were around 30 hl/ha. If you cropped higher then you risk losing some balance and brightness. We started picking on September 6. I prefer to pick early as the alcohol increases one degree in a week. Temperatures were very high during the picking, so I assumed they would be tannic. It was vital to keep the freshness and the acidity. The wines were racked a month ago and we will bottle in February or March. The highest alcohol level is 13.8%. I like challenging vintages. I think the vintage was better than in 2021 and 2023 may last longer than 2022.”

This is one of the best portfolios that I have tasted from Clerget – a deeply impressive set amongst the finest encountered in the Côte de Beaune. There is certainly none of the excessive tannins that he feared – quite the opposite. You get the sense that he relished the challenge, and that the purity and finesse nearly all his wines exude actually means that yes, they do surpass the previous vintage.

Twelve months ago, I inspected the building site Thibaud Clerget hoped would turn into a new first-floor tasting room. Well, that’s now complete: a spacious, chichi space with sofas, a walk-in cool-room to house back vintages and a large table for tasting. That’s not the big news. No, the headline is that in July 2022, Clerget bought Domaine Regis Rossignol-Changarnier and its eight hectares of vine. These were split with fellow winemaker Arnaud Baillot, though as Clerget put the deal together, he essentially got first dibs on which vineyards he wanted to add to his Pommard/Volnay-focused portfolio. Each ended up with four hectares. Apropos the 2022s, note that Clerget was advising Rossignol-Changarnier’s chef de culture on how to farm the vines before the acquisition. Hence, it isn’t a case of having zero control of viticulture before the deal went through. Clerget said he now has ten hectares, which is a sufficient size.

“It was a much easier growing season,” he continues. “I just needed to do six or seven treatments in the vines with just a little coulure, so the bunches were not too densely clustered. We had 100mm of rain at the end of June. I started the harvest on August 25 in the Clos du Verseuil and finished on September 8. I didn’t make much wine, just 35hL/ha for the reds and 45hL/ha for the whites. I did only pump-overs for the extraction with no pumping down - infusion, really. I used some whole bunch on the reds, depending on the vineyard. I like the 2022 vintage as we have balance and freshness. The reds had been racked three or four weeks earlier to spend the second year in tank, and they will be bottled in March and April without filtration.”

This is a fine set of wines from Clerget, capped by strong showings of his Volnay Les Caillerets and Pommard Les Rugiens, both eclipsing the Clos de Vougeot that I felt showed a little too much stem influence (maybe 30% would have worked better than 50%). Clerget has been using WineGlobes for a couple of vintages now and experimented with a cuvée completely matured in the glass containers – his debut Volnay Clos des Angles. As I remarked to Clerget, I am unconvinced that they offer a viable alternative to oak barrels. Indeed, I feel he thinks the same way and mentioned that for 2023, that cuvée combines WineGlobe and oak barrel.

Thibaud Clerget has established himself as one of Pommard’s leading winemakers in recent years with new vineyards added to his portfolio from his joint acquisition of Domaine Regis Changarnier, which was split with winemaker Arnaud Baillot, incidentally married to the sister of Charles Van Canneyt of Hudelot-Noëllat, notwithstanding a new standalone two-story building that will house a cuverie and tasting room, as well as rooftop decking for that all-important barbecue. “It was not an easy vintage with frost on 6-8 April when I lost around 70% of volume. It’s the vintage of the winemaker, one for those that work a lot in the vineyard and the winery. The job is 80% in the vineyard, and I finished working in the vines on 10 August when others stopped in July. I also discarded 10% of the berries at the sorting table and started picking on the 22 September. It’s a very elegant vintage compared to 2018 – it’s a shame about the quantity. I did no punch-downs, just a light infusion. Some small cuvées, one or two barrels, I bottled directly from barrel whilst others will be racked and blended into tank.” Clerget kicks the ball out of the park in 2021; perhaps my favourite of all the growers I tasted in Volnay, his wines exhibit bewitching purity and Pinoté when others tried to over-compensate for the shortfalls of the season. They come across as wines you just can’t wait to buy and drink. Shame about the volumes though. His Volnay Mitans was blended into the Volnay Village save for a diddy feuillette, about 150 bottles, reserved for personal use.

It is always a pleasure to meet winemakers again, but even more so with respect to Clerget since I had heard that Thibaud contracted Covid earlier this year. Thankfully he recovered, even though he told me that three months later his taste is yet to return 100%. “It is one of my favourite vintages,” Clerget told me as I broached his 2019s. “There was a lot of millerandage and I lost 50% of production during flowering. For the younger vines of Santenots there was a little grillure_ during the summer and are planted on 161-49 rootstock that are dying [N.B This issue is broached in the second part of this report.] They will be pulled up soon. The 2019 vintage is the first vintage where I farmed organically, the first of three years in conversion that I am doing for myself, not for certification. The harvest began on 12 September and then we picked over the next five days compared to the starting date of 22 August, in 2020. We had a sorting table, then did a cold fermentation for 5 to 10 days and started the alcoholic fermentation using natural yeasts. We did just one or two pigeages for all the cuvaison, and then one or two remontage per day, plus one délestage. I find the wines very fresh and elegant, not with too much alcohol since I started on the optimal day. The maximum alcohol is 13.8° and they are mostly around 13.4°. The 2019 vintage is more an infusion vintage - we didn’t need to touch the grapes. All the reds were racked a month ago and I will probably bottle this December instead of later in March as the wines seem ready.” This was an excellent set of 2019s that will enhance Clerget’s reputation as one of Pommard’s go-to producers, even though his holdings lean more towards neighbouring Volnay! The highlights comprise yet another superb Clos Vougeot, a stunning Volnay Clos de Verseuil from Clerget’s monopole and an excellent Volnay Les Caillerets. These wines are extremely pure, beautifully poised but in keeping with the style of 2019, intense. I also tasted through Clerget’s bottled 2018s that are also impressive, and it will be intriguing to see which of the two vintages ultimately comes out on top. My hunch is both.

It is always a pleasure to meet winemakers again, but even more so with respect to Clerget since I had heard that Thibaud contracted Covid earlier this year. Thankfully he recovered, even though he told me that three months later his taste is yet to return 100%. “It is one of my favourite vintages,” Clerget told me as I broached his 2019s. “There was a lot of millerandage and I lost 50% of production during flowering. For the younger vines of Santenots there was a little grillure_ during the summer and are planted on 161-49 rootstock that are dying [N.B This issue is broached in the second part of this report.] They will be pulled up soon. The 2019 vintage is the first vintage where I farmed organically, the first of three years in conversion that I am doing for myself, not for certification. The harvest began on 12 September and then we picked over the next five days compared to the starting date of 22 August, in 2020. We had a sorting table, then did a cold fermentation for 5 to 10 days and started the alcoholic fermentation using natural yeasts. We did just one or two pigeages for all the cuvaison, and then one or two remontage per day, plus one délestage. I find the wines very fresh and elegant, not with too much alcohol since I started on the optimal day. The maximum alcohol is 13.8° and they are mostly around 13.4°. The 2019 vintage is more an infusion vintage - we didn’t need to touch the grapes. All the reds were racked a month ago and I will probably bottle this December instead of later in March as the wines seem ready.” This was an excellent set of 2019s that will enhance Clerget’s reputation as one of Pommard’s go-to producers, even though his holdings lean more towards neighbouring Volnay! The highlights comprise yet another superb Clos Vougeot, a stunning Volnay Clos de Verseuil from Clerget’s monopole and an excellent Volnay Les Caillerets. These wines are extremely pure, beautifully poised but in keeping with the style of 2019, intense. I also tasted through Clerget’s bottled 2018s that are also impressive, and it will be intriguing to see which of the two vintages ultimately comes out on top. My hunch is both.

I had heard a lot about winemaker Thibault Clerget in recent years, though this was the first time that I visited his winery in Pommard. The winery here actually belonged to his great uncle, Felix Clerget, and Yves prefers making his wines here instead of his father’s winery in Volnay. I can understand why. It is a slightly shabby but pretty, quite atmospheric winery decorated with statues of St. Vincent and a beautiful double wooden door, carved in the 1950s by an ancestor, a tableau depicting various winemaking scenes. "The first generation of the Clerget family to make wine was in 1268," Clerget told me. "I am the 28th generation. The last vintage of my father was 2009 and in 2010 and 2014 he sold the grapes to other domaines. I came back to the domaine in 2015 after studying at the Lycée Viticole, at Geisen in New Zealand, with Charles Van Canneyt (at Hudelot-Noëllat) for two years and at Drouhin in Oregon. There are currently six hectares of the domaine with one white under my négoce label." I asked about the tenets he applies. He told me: "We need to distinguish the terroirs. I focus on small yields, 30-to 35-hl/ha is the best, using less treatments in the vineyard. However I don’t look for any certification. All the 2018s were racked one month ago and will be bottled in January, the élevage 12 months in barrel and 4 months in tank. I am using the Chassin cooperage for the whites and for the reds, Tremeaux and Rousseau." I absolutely adored Clerget’s 2018s. I would go as far to say that here I found some of the finest expressions of Volnay, wines surfeit with purity, terroir expression, vibrant fruit and at times, quite ethereal levels of precision - remarkable given the type of growing season. Some of the cuvées are very limited in production, down to a barrel in a couple of cases, but do whatever you can to get hold of one. Who’s to bet against Yves Clerget’s name ranking alongside the likes of Lafarge in the future? Maybe it already does.

Thibaud Clerget's 2017s are very pretty wines that build on the successes of the 2015s and 2016s, although the more modest structure and depth of the vintage is very much in evidence. Harvest began on September 3 and lasted 5 days. In general, the wines are made with fully destemmed fruit, although the Clos Vougeot is done with about 50% whole clusters. The fruit saw 5-10 days of cold soak followed by 20-25 days on the skins. Élevage was 11-12 months in oak. I tasted all of the 2017s from tank prior to bottling. Thibaud Clerget remains one of the most bright and promising growers of his generation. What he has accomplished at a young age is already quite remarkable.

Thibaud Clerget took over winemaking duties at the family domain with vintage 2015; his father Yvon had retired in 2009 and in the intervening years the estate sold fruit from its six hectares of vines to Henri Boillot (Thibaud apprenticed at Boillot and at Hudelot-Noëllat, and has also worked at Domaine Drouhin Oregon and at Giesen Estate in New Zealand).

Thibaud, who is still not yet 30 years old, told me that he has “totally changed everything.” He practices “la lutte raisonnée” (i.e., "the reasoned struggle," which means that he's not technically organic but makes very sparing use of chemical products) and carries out a cold soak lasting seven to ten days at about 8 degrees C. before the fermentations begin. He vinified the 2015s in wood cuves but switched to thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks in 2016. (In 2017, he experimented with whole clusters with his Clos Vougeot but he’s not convinced that his wines from Volnay can support vinification with stems.) And he quickly made the decision to shorten élevage from the previous 16 or 17 months to just 12, while bumping up the percentage of new oak from the 10% his father used to 20% to 25%.

Clerget told me that he made just half of a normal crop in 2015 due to the summer's drought and to hail the previous year. The pHs ranged as high as 3.7, but Clerget considers this a millésime de garde, with a blacker fruit character than 2016 and at least 10 or 15 years of aging potential. But the young ‘16s here are more detailed, nuanced, sophisticated wines with captivating silky richness. Clerget started harvesting on September 22 in '16, beginning with his severely frosted vines in Volnay Santenots, with grape sugars in the healthy 12.5% to 13% range. He lost between 50% and 60% of his crop overall, including all of his Bourgogne. And he made just 7 barrels of village Volnay, vs. a normal 25. Clerget told me that he did not use grapes from the second buds as they didn’t ripen properly. He did a bit less pigeage in 2016, as the color was easy to extract. This is clearly a talented young winemaker to follow, and the estate has some superb holdings.

Thibaud Clerget took over winemaking duties at the family domain with vintage 2015; his father Yvon had retired in 2009 and in the intervening years the estate sold fruit from its six hectares of vines to Henri Boillot (Thibaud apprenticed at Boillot and at Hudelot-Noëllat, and has also worked at Domaine Drouhin Oregon and at Giesen Estate in New Zealand).

Thibaud, who is still not yet 30 years old, told me that he has “totally changed everything.” He practices “la lutte raisonnée” (i.e., "the reasoned struggle," which means that he's not technically organic but makes very sparing use of chemical products) and carries out a cold soak lasting seven to ten days at about 8 degrees C. before the fermentations begin. He vinified the 2015s in wood cuves but switched to thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks in 2016. (In 2017, he experimented with whole clusters with his Clos Vougeot but he’s not convinced that his wines from Volnay can support vinification with stems.) And he quickly made the decision to shorten élevage from the previous 16 or 17 months to just 12, while bumping up the percentage of new oak from the 10% his father used to 20% to 25%.

Clerget told me that he made just half of a normal crop in 2015 due to the summer's drought and to hail the previous year. The pHs ranged as high as 3.7, but Clerget considers this a millésime de garde, with a blacker fruit character than 2016 and at least 10 or 15 years of aging potential. But the young ‘16s here are more detailed, nuanced, sophisticated wines with captivating silky richness. Clerget started harvesting on September 22 in '16, beginning with his severely frosted vines in Volnay Santenots, with grape sugars in the healthy 12.5% to 13% range. He lost between 50% and 60% of his crop overall, including all of his Bourgogne. And he made just 7 barrels of village Volnay, vs. a normal 25. Clerget told me that he did not use grapes from the second buds as they didn’t ripen properly. He did a bit less pigeage in 2016, as the color was easy to extract. This is clearly a talented young winemaker to follow, and the estate has some superb holdings.

The reborn Domaine Y. Clerget could very well turn out to be one of the great recent success stories in Burgundy. Thibaud Clerget recently took over the family domaine and has set his sights on making top-notch wines. For the last five years, following Yvon Clerget’s retirement, this fruit was going to a number of other producers, including Henri Boillot, who has been a sort of mentor to the young Clerget. Thibaud Clerget picked a great vintage to make his debut. It is hard to make a meaningful stylistic judgment based on just one vintage, but Clerget's wines share some similarities with Boillot's, namely an intense expression of dark fruit, rich texture and a preference for working with fully destemmed fruit. Readers should do whatever they can to taste these wines. Clerget is just 28 and appears to have a brilliant career in front of him. Bravo!