Domaine Joseph Voillot Pommard 1er Cru Les Epenots 2021

Les Épenots is consistently one of the star performances in the Voillot range — and a wine that makes the case for Pommard with far more grace than the appellation's somewhat brutish reputation might suggest. The Voillot parcel sits in Petits Épenots, at the lower slope where the shallow soils of Jurassic limestone and white marl give the wine a distinctive mineral freshness that lifts and refines what could otherwise be a heavyweight. The vineyard lies on the northern edge of Pommard, to the right as you enter the village from Beaune, adjoining Beaune premier cru on one side — a transitional terroir that tempers Pommard's muscularity with something more supple and aromatic. Grapes are partially destemmed and aged in oak barrels with 20 to 30% new wood for 12 to 18 months — a restrained hand that ensures the oak serves the fruit rather than defines it. 

An opulent wine full of cassis, mulberry and dark cherries, with succulent tannins that support well and an underbelly of crème de mûre that enriches the mid-palate — but carried at a level of sophistication that you would expect from a premier cru site of this calibre. A nice freshness of fruit with floral accompaniment, a more direct intensity to the fruit and line of flavour — vibrant and persistent, with more tannin than the lighter Voillot cuvées, but delicious and incisive, with an excellent finish. This is a wine that rewards patience — compact and structured in youth, it opens progressively into something richer and more complete, combining the depth and grip of Pommard with the terroir-driven clarity that is the Voillot house signature.