Appellations
Premier Cru · Côte de Beaune
Les Rugiens
Pommard · red · 12.7
Pommard's best, named for the red iron in its soil, with a promotion case of its own.
Under the vines
Iron-rich red clay over limestone; Rugiens-Bas, the lower half, is the serious part.
In the glass
Dense, tannic and earthy, with real depth under the structure. Wants a decade.
Why it sits here
Only Rugiens-Bas is proposed for grand cru, which would be an unusually surgical promotion.
Commonly misread
That all Pommard is like this. The village spent a century selling indifferent wine on a memorable name.
Names worth knowing
de Courcel, Comte Armand, de Montille, Aleth Girardin