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'Density, freshness and tension': 2023's No1 Sommelier tastes our Clos wines

January 03, 2024

'Density, freshness and tension': 2023's No1 Sommelier tastes our Clos wines

Here at the château, we absolutely love to see people enjoying our wines. Every year over 20-thousand visitors come through our doors to do just that, and our team takes an enormous amount of pleasure in every gasp, sigh and "wow".

But when someone with an extra-special palate takes the time to explore a selection of our cuvées, we pay special attention.

Raimonds Tomsons was recognised as The Best Sommelier of the World in 2023. So we gave him three of our wines to sink his teeth into, and as an extra special treat he gave us some food-pairing suggestions too.

First up is one from our increasingly lauded 2021 vintage. The plot: Nicolas-Joseph

"Very fine aromatics with fresh ripe cherry and raspberry, the floral grace of violet," he begins. "Great purity of fruit and freshness, a scent of earthy presence, very gentle fine oak of smoke and toast, very youthful."

That's just the nose. Top somms like Raimonds have very finely tuned senses and they want to find the truth of every layer of complexity. He takes a sip.

"Great freshness and tension with an almost light structure, bright juicy acidity," he says. The lightness is something we figured he'd find with our '21s. The conditions were such that, for our winegrowing and winemaking team, it was much like making wine decades ago before the real effects of climate change became consistently clear. Fascinating but tricky with lots of extraction needed.

"The mid palate is full of bright crunchy red fruits like cherry, strawberry and raspberry, with notes of dry spice and gentle toastiness adding slight bitterness, all in all great freshness on the finish," he adds.

"It's a very fresh and easy to enjoy Pommard with great purity of crunchy fruit. Perfect to enjoy now or the next 5+ years. With its acidity and freshness, it's going to be perfect with a Vitello Tonnato."

If you're into your food and wine pairings, check out the booklet we produced for the festive season here.

Next up is a firm favourite with our wine advisor team in Pommard, the Clos Marey-Monge Chantrerie 2020.

Raimonds mentions the "intense ruby core and gentle garnet rim" before diving in with the nose which he says is "definitely a nose driven by earthy spiciness rather than fruits." Dominated by "fine earthiness and savoury tones, dark spiciness of cinnamon, notes of leather and tobacco, dark berries underneath with black cherry and plums."

It's tasting time. And he's impressed, calling it a "generous and full Pinot Noir palate with fresh acidity and marked chalky grained tannin."

"The mid palate is full and dense with ripe black cherry, plum and blackcurrant, plenty of dark spices like crushed black pepper and cumin, and fine oak influence of toast and gently charred wood, an earthy undertone adding complexity, persistent and spicy on the finish."

Gently charred wood is a glorious detection here. It highlights the importance of the barrelling process. From choice of wood to level of toast and aging duration, this is one of the key elements in winemaking.

Raimonds' overall view and suggested pairing for our 2020 Chantrerie? "A classic and complex Pommard which will develop the next 7–10+ years due to its spicy and earthy character. It's a great wine with delicate game dishes like partridge or pigeon."

Accolades for Raimonds Tomsons are extremely wide ranging. He is, by turns, Wine Director at Barents Wine Collectors, Global Brand ambassador at Mosphera, board member at the Latvian Sommelier Association, and a wine judge at the Decanter Wine World Awards, where no doubt he has come across our clos wines before. He came to us through our friends at Sommelier International. And a report on these wines will be featured in their March 2024 edition so stay tuned for that!

And now it's time for the third and final cuvée. What did he make of our Clos Marey-Monge Monopole 2020?

"A refined and intense nose with fine complexity," he begins. "Ripe and sweet dark and red berries in combination with fine spiciness like black pepper and cinnamon. Mineral presence of earthiness and wet earth, very elegant wood of baking spices and toast." He swirls the purple-rimmed wine. "Aeration reveals liquorice and cassis chutney. Youthful, complex and developing."

You can immediately tell he's impressed with the palate.

"Great density and flesh with an almost full body, great freshness underneath with a refreshing acidity and polished sweet tannin. The mid palate shows a savoury-like texture with good fruit intensity of spicy dark cherry, plum and even cassis. Plenty of dark spices, earthy notes of tobacco and leather and fine toast coming from oak ageing. Great balance and persistence on the finish."

Indeed, "generous and fleshy" was a note given to this wine at the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2023.

Overall then: "A very seductive Pommard. Young but polished and very enjoyable already now, but with its structure and concentration it will definitely keep for the next 8-10+ years. Perfect with a slowly roasted lamb with aromatic herbs and lamb jus."

Thank you for your thoughtful notes, Raimonds. Here's to a wonderful 2024.

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