Pommard Premier Cru 'Les Grands Épenots', Domaine de Montille, (Magnum) 2020 vs Tenuta San Leonardo, Cabernet Franc, - 300cl 2020
Compare current tracked prices, stockists and core specifications. Pommard Premier Cru 'Les Grands Épenots', Domaine de Montille, (Magnum) 2020 currently starts £28.20 lower.
| Availability | In stock | In stock |
|---|---|---|
| Best current price | £311.50 | £339.70 |
| Current stockists | 1 merchant | 1 merchant |
| Producer | Domaine de Montille | Tenuta San Leonardo |
| Style | Red | Red |
| Grape | Pinot Noir | Cabernet Franc |
| Size | 1500ml | 3000ml |
| Where to buy |
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Pommard Premier Cru 'Les Grands Épenots', Domaine de Montille, (Magnum) 2020
Domaine de Montille wanted their first kosher wines to set a new benchmark so chose prestigious, discrete-sized premier cru sites that are picked at around the same time and usually early which is a bonus in a forward vintage like 2020. The cuvees have not needed acidification or chaptalisation either and both reds are 100% whole cluster so minimal intervention is required to ensure quality. To ensure the barrels are kosher, they are filled up three times with water, left for 24-hrs each time and emptied, then refilled with fresh water and rinsed. The barrels are then inspected and approved. This process necessarily begins four days prior to harvest. The domaine's wines are known for their great aromatic purity. They always favour balance and elegance over power and extraction. The wines are classic expressions of Burgundy, of their appellations in general and of their specific terroirs in particular. The farming methods they use contribute to this individual style, and their winemaking methods aim to avoid excessive outside influences in order to bring out the equilibrium that can be found naturally in Burgundian terroir. The Domaine has practiced organic viticulture since 1995. Today, their wines are certified by Ecocert. Additionally, since 2005, biodynamic practices have been implemented. Pommard is an appellation that makes wine lovers dream. It is 312.76 hectares of Pinot Noir (115 hectares of which are Premier Crus) cover two terrains: south (on the Volnay side), the wines are elegant yet powerful; while in the north (closer to Beaune) the wines are silkier. However, this rule has some exceptions, like "Les Grands Épenots", which is planted on a combination of clay and limestone that is rich and heavy. This Premier Cru initialised a request for reclassification to Grand Cru in 2012. The words "epeneaux, épenots, epenottes" certainly comes from the same root as "épine", or spine. It is possible that there were previously patches of thorny bushes in the middle
Tenuta San Leonardo, Cabernet Franc, - 300cl 2020
Part of the legend of San Leonardo is the discovery in the 1990 that vines across the estate previously believed to be Cabernet Franc were in fact Carménère – which, whilst associated more with Chilé than Trentino, is more widely planted in Northern Italy than you might imagine. As Carménère was not a permitted variety in the region at the time, San Leonardo continued the fiction that the blend was Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The last vintage that was labelled as such was 2010... However, there does exist at San Leonardo a solitary 0.5ha vineyard, planted in 1989, using the traditional pergola system, that is in fact 100% Cabernet Franc. In the past it has been added in very small quantities to enhance the estate’s other wines, until now. San Leonardo’s longstanding consultant winemaker Carlo Ferrini, one of Italy’s most respected oenologists, was so impressed by the quality of this Cabernet Franc from the 2020 vintage that he believed it deserved to be brought into the spotlight and vinified as a single variety. Our dear friend Anselmo, knowing Honest Grapes’ enthusiasm for special projects, has generously offered us complete exclusivity. “An intense perfume leaps from the glass - tight bunches of cool red and black cherries, pot pourri, cloves, tamarind, soy, kirsch, mocha, pencil lead, wood smoke, forest floor and ivy. The palate is similarly explosive, and balances a rich but controlled centre of dark chocolate-coated liqueur cherries, black plums, and polished leather, with long savoury, sappy tannins, inflected with notes of hoi-sin and cedar, leading to a tapered, salted liquorice finish. Carlo Ferrini singled the 2020 Cabernet Franc out as being of such quality to warrant a single variety wine. This is the first ever vintage produced in over twenty years since being planted.” Tom Harrow, Head Wine Guru
Prices and availability reflect the latest tracked merchant checks and may change before checkout.