Saint-Véran
Les Pommards 2020
Origin
Born in 1971, the A.O.C. Saint-Véran covers nearly 600 hectares spread over six villages and takes its marks around the A.O.C. Pouilly-Fuissé. It takes its marks around the A.O.C. Pouilly-Fuissé and is divided into two large areas: in the north, near Davayé, there are very calcareous soils in the extension of Solutré, alternating with more clayey areas, this gives on the whole fairly fatty wines. In the south, near Chasselas and Saint-Véran, there is also a diversity in the soils with perhaps more clay than in the north. The wines here are marked by more mineral aromas.
"Les Pommards" is located on the northern part of the appellation, in the town of Davayé.
Viticulture
Grape variety: chardonnay
Soils: limestone and marl.
Orientation: North-East
Surface area under vine: 0.60 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 60 hL/ha
Average age of the vine: 35 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 6 September 2020.
The grapes were handpicked and were sorted a first time in the vineyard and a second time when they arrived at the winery.
At the winery: The whole bunches of grapes were gently pressed for 2½ hours. The temperature of the must was brought down to 12°C then was immediately transferred to barrels with no settling to preserve a maximum of lees. Long fermentation using indigenous yeasts for added complexity and freshness.
Ageing
Maturation: aged for 8 months with no racking or stirring to bring out all of this wine’s minerality.
- 1/3 of the wine in a 12hL-Stockinger cask, having already been used for the aging of a wine,
- 1/3 of the wine in a 228L- barrel with 20% new French oak barrels
- 1/3 of the wine in demi-muid (450L) with 30% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: Oak of French origin toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a subtle, delicate touch of oak were used.
Bottling
Bottling: The wine was bentonite fined and very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity at the end of June 2021.
Number of bottles: 4,864.
Vintage
Balanced and concentrated
The harvests happened back-to-front! They began with the reds ripening before the whites. The harvest was very disease-free but we had to eliminate sunburnt berries, especially in the case of the Pinot Noir vines as the Chardonnays had coped better with the heat. Quality was definitely good, but relatively low juice yields has resulted in Pinot Noirs with high colour and aromatic intensity. On the other hand, the Chardonnay vines produced adequate yields with a good balance of sugar and acidity. This optimal ripeness enabled us to harvest the red grapes in certain plots according to the ‘vendange entière’ approach, where stalks are fermented along with the grapes. 'Lots of lovely colour in the reds, with very high polyphenol content, firm tannins and excellent levels of acidity. Looks set to be a year with great cellaring potential. Summer fruit coulis notes definitely have the upper hand in this year’s vintage! The whites are nicely-balanced, but it’s too early to be more precise. Watch this space…’ Grégory Patriat.
Ageing potential: from 2 to 6 years.
Tasting notes
The color is pale yellow. The nose will seduce you with its intense aromas of flowers, citrus fruits associated with honeyed notes as well as some smoky notes. On the palate, the wine is very ample while keeping a nice freshness and a very melted oak.
