Two Women from Burgundy: Jeanne-Marie Deschamps, Wine Broker + Anne Parent, Winemaker
Last week's were some of the best wines of this year's tastings so far. Anne Parent impressed many tasters with her thoughtful method and note-perfect Pommard-based wines. Jeanne- Marie Deschamps was lucid and concise in explaining the others.
March 9, 2023
Two Women from Burgundy
They brought some extraordinary wines from a trade lunch in addition to those listed last week.
Some standouts from an excellent group:
Guy Charlemagne is a grower in Les Mesnil, one of the foremost villages among the top vineyards of the Cote des Blancs. His basic brut champagne was not to be part of the tasting but attracted everybody's attention with its impeccable balance. The 100% pinot noir that makes up his rose was fermented as rose. Several people liked that also.
The unannounced 1er cru Chablis les Fourchaume eclipsed the very good Tremblay Chablis. Its generous fruit of the superb 2020 vintage suffused with classic Chablis flint made it the most purchased wine of the tasting. It is a great buy at $40 the bottle, $34 by the case.
Two whites came from vineyards on the flat part of Puligny-Montrachet that can carry only the name Bourgogne Cote' d'Or. Both Puligny in character, if not weight, they differed in style. Paul Pernot's was rich and round and satisfyingly mouth-filling. Anne Bavard-Brooks' showed a more delicate tracery of Puligny minerality. Both had fans; some people took both also.
Of course, Paul Pernot's village Puligny-Montrachet was the real stuff in an excellent vintage.
Anne Parent's style differs from that of most other Pommard producers. Her wines had the dark fruit that marks Pommard's darker fruit but were Volnayish in their suave precision. They were wines of exquisite purity. I felt that her style has evolved for the better since she showed us 2014s 15s, and 16s five years ago.
Like the Pernot and Bavard-Brooks "Pulignys," her Bourgogne Selection Pomone vineyards are in Pommard (and Volnay) and approach them in style but are nominally not of them. It is selected from and shows the quality of 50-year-old vines. The 2019 we tasted was delightful and was a tasters' favorite.
The 2019 Parent Pommard Croix Blanches is from a single vineyard just below Epenots. It showed a sexy breed and poise above its village classification. The part bottle I took home was spectacular the next day.
The 2021 Pommards in the prearrival offer below are not cheap but are irresistible in their purity and finesse.
Champagne
Guy Charlemagne Brut Classic; Aroma: heady deep, forward, mineral; Very Good Plus $53; Case, $45
Guy Charlemagne Brut Rose Color: fresh, pretty pale salmon tan; Aroma: Juicy forward, rich; Mouth: light, clean, nicely pretty, fine acid back, firm, long; Very Good – Excellent Reg $72, Case $66
White
2020 Gerard Tremblay Chablis Very Good Plus Reg $29, Case $25
2020 Gerard Tremblay Chablis les Fourchaume; Aroma: Flinty, hardish v dry clean firm; Mouth: Rounded very ripe sweet intense, full, fat in the mouths classic; Very Good - Excellent $40; Case, $34
2020 Anne Bavard Brooks Bourgogne Côte d'Or la Combe; Aroma: Heady, relatively dense, vibrant, lightly oaked, very fresh, saline; Mouth: Softly Puligny bright acid, firm, finely textured, a touch of tannin, good length; Very Good Plus $45; Case, $39
2021 Paul Pernot Bourgogne Cote d'Or Chardonnay; Aroma: nicely broad, a lot of richness, heady and full, layered, very light wood; Mouth: full in the mouth, very rich, very intense, granular texture, white plum, light oak, vibrant and broad; Very Good Plus $48; Case, $41
2021 Paul Pernot Puligny Montrachet; Aroma: Dense, nicely mineral, very rich, full & very well balanced; Mouth: Sweet and rounded, excellent intensity, lively on the palates, warm; Very Good - Excellent $95; Case, $79
2020 Roger Lassarat St Veran Cras- Organic; Aroma: heady, very dense and full, firm, fresh mineral lifted a touch of mint; Mouth: clan mineral, firm stony, bright, strong acid, very long; Very Good - Excellent Reg $51, Case $44
Red
2019 Parent Bourgogne Pinot Selection Pomone Not just your average Bourgogne Rouge but a selection from two vineyards with fifty-year-old vines just outside Pommard, exceptional Reg $61, Case $52
2019 Parent Pommard Croix Blanches Alan Meadows "discreet wood sets off pretty, ripe, and fresh aromas of various red berries that are cut with floral and warm earth hints. There is fine volume and mid-palate density to the delicious middle-weight flavors that possess a sleek, even refined mouthfeel, all wrapped in a youthfully austere finish where the only nit is a touch of warmth. This is a fine Pommard villages. Outstanding," $109, Case $93
2021 Anne Parent Prearrival
Very Very limited
Tasted from barrel sample
Anne lost 60% of her crop in 2021
To be bottled late April - arrival summer or fall
2021 Domaine Parent Pommard La Croix Blanche; Color: Light red black; Aroma: Very fresh, very pretty, rasher stony, low toned; Mouth: Bright forward, very fine elegant, precise, strong acid line, a bite of steel, in the finish precise; Excellent Prearrival $105 Net
2021 Domaine Parent Pommard les Argilieres 1er Cru; Aroma: Very broads, fresh and forward, very pretty fruit, deeper; Mouth: Deep lithe and deep wood-accented, Excellent-Outstanding Prearrival $149 Net
2021 Domaine Parent Pommard Epenots; Color: Very dark; Aroma: Very rich, very lovely, lots of depth, very full and intense, heady, a fillip of sweet spice; Mouth: Very clean, very rich and elegant, firm light tannic, line; OutstandingPrearrival $199 Net
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: order@federalwine.com
These wines (except futures) and any wine in stock assort as follows:
For 12 or more bottles of the same wine, take 15% off.
For 12 or more bottles of various wines, take 10% off.
Wines marked “net” help assemble cases but don’t discount themselves.
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- Peter Hemenway
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