Château Quintus, St Emilion, Bordeaux (Jeroboam) 2023 vs Pommard Premier Cru 'Les Grands Épenots', Domaine de Montille, (Magnum) 2022

Pommard Premier Cru 'Les Grands Épenots', Domaine de Montille, (Magnum) 2022

Domaine de Montille is one of Burgundy’s most revered estates and this burgeoning family property is very much at the top of its game, producing wines of exceptional quality: scintillating, proper Burgundies, unusually across both reds and whites. Features as one of the Top 10 Côte de Beaune Red Wine Producers and Top 10 Côte de Beaune White Wine Producers in Tim Atkin's Burgundy 2022 Special Report. Self-confessed ‘acid freak’ Brian Sieve was especially careful with battonage and lees-stirring of the Chardonnays in 2022, to maintain freshness and verve, noting that it was not a high acid vintage. A little less new oak (not that there is ever more than just enough) and whole bunches in the reds than in the previous solar vintages, plus the gentler acid profile means the wines have a charm and immediacy to rival any vintage we’ve tasted from the domaine. “From one of the two most reputed premier cru sites in the village, touching Grand Cru quality (a status upgrade growers requested back in 2012). 70% whole bunch and 20% new oak. Deep red cherry nose, baking spices, cherry tobacco, star anise and moist, humus-rich earth leads seamlessly on to a powerful, broad attack, full of red cherry sweetness and spiced plums, with tapenade and soy notes, drawn in linear fashion by juicy, well covered tannins, which are chocolatey and rich but fresh and fine-grained too. A really super, dimensional wine – that shows off the best of Pommard.” Tom Harrow, Head Wine Guru