The 2012 Pommard Village is actually a blend of three different village crus and four different premier crus that were too small to bottle separately this year, because of the hail. It is 100% de-stemmed. It has an effervescent, vivacious bouquet with bright red cherries, bergamot and fine minerals. The palate is smooth and harmonious on the entry, the dark plum and wild strawberry fruit cut through with racy acidity and a structured finish emanating from those declassified Premier Crus lending length and good grip. I have been tasting the wines of Nicolas Rossignol for several years now, but this was the first time that I had visited him at the winery in Beaune that he shares with Benjamin Leroux. “I didn’t have enough space in Volnay where I was working with my father,” he explained. “My first vinification here was in 2011.” He now farms around 15 hectares of vine that have been handed down from his family. “My father is from Volnay and my mother Pernand,” he continued. “In 2002, when my grandfather was 89 years old, he said that he was going to sell the grapes to a negoce. I said ‘O.K. Then I will be your negoce’. Then in 2008, one of my uncles who also sold grapes to negoce said exactly the same thing. Most of his vineyards were next to my father’s and so I made the same deal with him, on the condition that I worked the vineyards like he had been doing. That was fine because I like to spend time in the vineyards. So now my grandparents’ and uncle’s vines go into the domaine’s wine. And now in this winery, I can do what I want, whereas before I did what I can.” In 2012, like so many producers, his vines were affected by the growing conditions and especially the hail, therefore he has had to blend some premier crus together because the quantities were simply too miniscule to bottle separately. “I lost a lot of grapes in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune,” he rued. One topic of conversation that kept arising was Nicolas’s approach to whole cluster ferments and to this end, I have detailed the percentages with respect to each barrel sample. “I like whole clusters,” he enthused. “It gives energy to wine. But it is not appropriate for all terroirs. For example I do not use whole clusters for ferrous soils because the energy comes from the terroir already.” Nicolas prefers punching down the fruit rather than pumping over and presses once the tannins are fully ripe, which he assesses on taste rather than analyzing the must. He opined that his 2012s will probably require an extended period in bottle, possibly up until August or September for some wines. Like many growers I spoke to, he eschews new oak and raises all the wines in 30% one-year-old barrels, 30% two-year-old and the remainder in older wood. These were generally excellent wines: taut, bursting with red fruit, very distinctive and respectful of their terroirs and brimming over with personality. The judicious application of oak allowed the vagaries of the fruit to be expressed, while lending the wines just enough body to give them structure and intensity. While most will be approachable in their youth, I believe that the premier crus will have a propensity to age in not dissimilar fashion to his 2010s. Importer: Becky Wasserman Selection (Le Serbet) and through various US importers (see www.leserbet.com for full list.)

Round and supple, yet still well-structured. Blackberry notes remain vibrant and linger on the finish, courtesy of the acidity and fine tannins. Best from 2010 through 2017. 450 cases made. -BS

Based on the same principle as his village Volnay, Rossignol's 2006 Pommard brings together fruit from chalky Vignots in the (ca. 330 meter high) nose bleed sector with fruit from the abundant, clay-rich "low land" acreage that accrues to this appellation. The latter is too fat, opines Rossignol, and in a vintage like 2006, the Vignots too "tender" for its own good. If this is not quite as strikingly successful as the Volnay, that's probably due to the difficulties for later-ripening Pommard generally vis-a-vis Volnay this vintage, though perhaps in part also to the sheer extremity of contrast between the two sites. Scents of cedar and wood smoke mingle with suggestions of candied, crystallized black raspberry and dark cherry. Impressively sweet fruit concentration on the palate covers the tannins, but this finishes with a rather forbidding sense of them. I would pair the wine carefully at table over the coming 2-3 years and in the process ascertain whether it has the potential for longer-term appeal. "Excellent ripeness came late, but then very quickly," reports Nicolas Rossignol, who began harvested his 2006s already in mid September. "Volnay tends to be precocious, anyway," he adds, "and you have to consider the intensive way in which I've been working the vines lately, with very low yields and intensive canopy management. I wanted to preserve freshness and equilibrium." Rossignol reported that his intention had been to bottle his 2006s correspondingly early to preserve their fruit and refinement, but the mid-winter of 2007-2008 was so bitterly cold that they seized-up, and in the end he permitted them what, for him, is a normal 18 months' elevage. Deeming his fruit - which largely weighed in between 12 and just over 13% potential alcohol - to be healthy, he employed whole clusters and stems selectively, depending on how he thought the technique fit the particular appellation. Once again, I was unable to taste more than half of the roughly two dozen Rossignol's wines - traversing five communes - and he declined to show me this year's Fremiets or Taillepieds on the grounds of their respective three- and two-barrel total production. (That said, Rossignol very generously introduced me by means of a sample to the wines of his neighbor Jean-Marc Boulet - see under that name for my notes.) For further details on Rossignol and his approach to Pinot, see my report in issue 171. Importers: Martine's Wines. Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400; also a Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet (various importers); fax 011-333-80-24-29-70

A pretty Pommard, packed with blackberry jam notes and accents of violet and bittersweet chocolate. This also has density and a bright structure, ending with a sweet berry aftertaste. Drink now through 2016. 375 cases made. -BS