Hubert de Montille Pommard Les Pezerolles 1er Cru(2004)

that at the end of August sugars were averaging between 8 and 9% yet went to between 13 and 14% in 3 weeks! We started picking on September 20th and of course we had to sort like there was no tomorrow as there was a bit of rot, some oidium, some hail damage and some under ripe fruit that it was absolutely necessary to eliminate. I destemmed all of the fruit and tried for a gentle extraction but some of the wines are still edgier than I would like so I will do some fining tests and judge the effects then. However, my guess is that some wines will benefit from a light fining. As de Montille notes, several wines probably would benefit but it's very difficult to predict the net result so please bear this in mind when reading the following notes. (Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA, Martin Scott Wines, Lake Success, NY and Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; Berry Brothers & Rudd, O.W. Loeb, Bibendum, Howard Ripley, The Wine Society and Haynes, Hanson & Clark, all UK). As I noted in Issue 21 (see Domaine Dujac), Domaine de Montille joined with Domaine Dujac and the Château de Puligny-Montrachet plus several private investors to purchase 30+ ha from Domaine Thomas-Moillard (also see Issue 21). While the final details are still being sorted out, it appears as though Domaine de Montille will double its total surface area in Taillepieds to 1.5 ha, add .30 ha of Clos de Vougeot and exploit 1.4 ha of Malconsorts. It may interest readers to know that there is a small indentation on the southeastern section of La Tâche that is classified as Malconsorts but it is a historical curiosity as to why this is. In the cadastres, which are the official and very detailed equivalent of an assessor's records, this section is listed as AM 60, which measures exactly .50 ha. The first vintage for this wine will be 2005 and de Montille has elected to vinify and label it separately, essentially as Malconsorts - Cuvée AM 60. While the purpose of my visit was not to review any '05s, for fun de Montille served blind the regular Malconsorts against the AM 60 and to my mind the difference was clear day and night. We'll of course see next year but both appear extremely promising. Stay tuned for more details! A beautifully expressive and enveloping nose of dark berry fruit notes and violet highlights lead to rich, full and sweet flavors that offer excellent depth and a detailed, pure and intense mineral-infused finish where the balance is near perfect. This is not a powerful wine but rather one of harmony and elegance.    (hide)