Domaine Joannes Violot-Guillemard Pommard 1er ‘Les Rugiens’ 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Want to deep dive into the Village of Pommard? Check the Wine Bites Mag article “Getting Your Head Around Burgundy Part 6 – The Reds of Pommard from the Côte de Beaune”

About Joannes Violot-Guillemard

Importer, Euan’s story of discovering this 5th generation Domaine is one of Serendipity. After too many stays in bland hotels visiting Burgundy a local suggested staying at Thierry and Estelle’s B&B. Eventually, the question was raised “When are you going to try our wines?” Well Euan’s reaction was the same as mine after my first taste a set of 2016 & 2017 Premier Crus: Rugien, Epenots, Platiere, Derriere Clos St Jean … How much can I have? The wines are delicious. Divine perfumes and stunning tannin’s that are fine, plush and beautifully played. Great harmony across the full set of wines. Vineyards back to 1936.

These wines are a revelation!

There is often a misconception that wines from Pommard are brutish, structured and will need decades to even be approachable. Like most things in life, mass generalisation does no one any favours. Thierry’s wines drink beautifully as a young Burgundy, as always the metamorphisis that occurs with great Burgundy requires patience.

I have been an admirer of Domaine Thierry Violot-Guillemard since I discovered their wines by chance as a student, and while this small six-hectare estate still flies under the radar, it’s only a matter of time until it becomes better known. Classical winemaking, sometimes incorporating a percentage of whole cluster, followed by long élevage, is the order of the day, Thierry Violot-Guillemard emphasizing that he makes his wines exactly as his father did. His son Joannes, who now takes an active role at the domaine, has refined some of the cooperage choices while happily remaining true to the house style. Readers who admire age-worthy, complex Côte de Beaune reds should beat a path to this address. 

William Kelley

If you have a splash of French have a swing at watching the 🎥 film below.

In the Vineyard

Thierry Violot was excited to announce that he had signed a lease for 1.6 ha of vineyards that will be effective with the 2021 vintage. The lease includes 1 ha of Pommard “Arvelets”, Volnay “Les Brouillards” in both villages and 1er plus a parcel of Chassagne “Blanchots-Dessus”. This addition will push the vines under cultivation to almost 8 ha.

Great wines can only come from the best grapes. This is why I take such great care in tilling my land. My vineyards have been under organic management since 1999.

As a proud successor of my ancestors’ heritage, I want to keep my terroir healthy so its quality can be appreciated in each of my wines.

The way I make my wine truly reflects my terroir: no yeasting, no reverse osmosis, not too many technical interventions, and not too much wood so as not to alter the taste of the wine.

I love the delicacy and the elegance, the ageing chardonnay, the distinctive pinot and above all, the fun!

Thierry

In the Winery

So … blah blah blah, grapes come in wine comes out blah blah blah. Hard to know really what’s going on from a technical perspective without having more of a chat with the crew in the winery. Two things are clear the philosophy is about restraint and expression of fruit and whatever is happening in the vineyard is working. Thierry is slowly transitioning responsibility to his son Joannes and we hear that a few things are shifting subtly. With fruit like this it will be fascinating to watch the evolution of the Domaine.

Joannes is work much more with whole bunch ferments.

The 2020 Vintage at Thierry Violot-Guillemard

When I reviewed Joannès Violot-Guillemard’s 2019s last year, I wrote that appreciable percentages of whole clusters have been deftly handled and married with intelligent cooperage choices to deliver wines with aromatic profiles more reminiscent of the Côte de Nuits’ finest addresses than any outdated stereotypes of burley and resolutely terrestrial Pommard, and I had the same reflection on tasting his 2019s. As was the case elsewhere where whole bunch vinification is the order of the day, the wines were less obviously marked by its aromatic signatures, instead foregrounding the vibrant, even primary fruit that was one of the vintage’s signatures from barrel. But if the vintage profile is different, the level of quality that Violot-Guillemard has attained is very similar, and this domaine continues its ascent.

William Kelley

Fans of the domaine will notice that the name has changed from Thierry Violot in favor of his son Joannès. With respect to the 2020 vintage, the younger Violot noted that “I have never seen colors like this, even in certain riper vintages like 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2015. We picked from the 20th to the 29th of August and brought in clean, ripe and phenolically mature fruit. Yields were good without being high at between 30 to 35 hl/ha with reasonable potential alcohols of 13.5 to 14.2%. I used 50 to 100% whole clusters for a relatively soft vinification. As to the wines, they’re atypical but actually refreshing and delicious with good aging potential and perhaps most remarkably of all, the terroirs are easily identifiable.” I agree with Violot in that he has fashioned some lovely wines and in particular the Rugiens.

Burghound

Where in the World is Joannes Violot-Guillemard?

Domaine Joannes Violot-Guillemard is based in Pommard holding incredible parcels of old vines. They have additional holding in Meursault, Monthelie, Beaune. In recent times parcels under lease have been added from Pommard, Chassagne-Montrachet and Volnay.