Milan Père et Fils, Pommard 2022

Pommard is one of the great wine villages in the Côtes de Beaune.

This is Pinot Noir that is dark, powerful and complex; a wine with layers of flavour and wonderfully firm, tannic texture, this is a wine for people who really love Burgundy, but also for those who think Burgundy can be a little underwhelming. This is compelling, convincing and delicious, complete wine that will satisfy all palates with impressive aplomb.

This is a phenomenal wine, in excellent condition from a wonderful vintage: ready to drink and enjoy.

Wines from Pommard have been overlooked in recent decades in favour of some softer and less direct, or sensorially challenging, villages. But to me, that misses part of the point of Burgundy. It's like only drinking Chablis, when there's Puligny and Meursault in the same region... you'll appreciate one far more by getting to know the other, and anyway, who knows - maybe you'll end up preferring something new. I think that all Burgundy should be studied for its endless complexities and microscopic nuances that seem to turn on the slim edge of a six-pence.

The neighbouring village of Volnay has had more fashionable fortune of late than Pommard. Volnay is said to give wines that are voluptuous, while Pommard gives wines that are hard, dark and powerful. They are literally cheek by jowl... and there is one of the great mysteries of Burgundy, that two seemingly similar villages could produce such seemingly opposite wines; the vines, literally either side of a line on a map.