Pommard is a village within the Côte de Beaune sub-region of Burgundy, famous for producing some of the region’s most powerful and richly flavored red wines.

October 1, 2010

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Pommard is a village within the Cote de Beaune sub-region of Burgundy, famous for producing some of the region’s most powerful and richly flavored red wines. These wines are produced from the Pinot Noir grape variety, with which the commune’s vineyards are almost exclusively planted; the Pommard appellation covers only the production of red wines.

What is particularly notable about Pommard, and its immediate neighbor Volnay, is that the villages are located less than one mile apart (1,300m to be precise), and yet the wines to which they give their names are so famously different in style. Even more striking about this contrast is that the most southerly vineyards of Pommard are separated from the most northerly vineyards of Volnay by no more than an imaginary line; the commune boundary which divides the two parishes.

Heading from south to north, Pommard marks the start of serious red wine production in the Cote de Beaune. Further north, white wine is produced in quantity only in Beaune, and even there it represents less than twenty percent of the town’s wine production. Just 5 miles (8 km) away, the other side of Beaune from Pommard, is the Grand Cru red wine stronghold of Corton, home of the district’s finest red wines. There are many in the wine world who believe that the best of Pommard’s vineyard sites (namely Les Epenots and Les Rugiens-Bas) should be promoted to join Corton in its Grand Cru status, but this has yet to happen. These two sites were once in line for this prestigious classification, but the vignerons of the time were wary of the restrictive Grand Cru production laws and declined the offer.

Rather aptly for a village so firmly entrenched in viticulture, the name Pommard is a reference to Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees. The symbol with which Pomona is commonly depicted is the pruning knife, a tool of great importance in both ancient Rome and more recently in Pommard. Religion and viticulture are interwoven in the village’s wine history in more ways than one; Pommard wine first became known around Europe when local protestants were forced to flee Pommard after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Thirty years later the Chateau de Pommard was built around vineyards originally planted by Cistercian monks, long established in the village. The walled Clos Micot vineyard is named after the lord responsible for building the Chateau; Comte Vivant Micaut. This historic name is spelt in various ways including these two more common forms.

Pommard has a large number of Premier Cru vineyards, which run almost uninterrupted from the commune boundaries of Beaune in the north to Volnay in the south. In fact, the only break in this belt of prized mid-slope vineyards are the streets and houses of Pommard village itself. Wines produced in these vineyards are entitled to claim the classification of Pommard Premier Cru.

Source: http://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-pommard

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