Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens

The Pillots have cultivated vines in the Côte de Beaune village of Chassagne-Montrachet since 1625. A new and exciting chapter began when, in the 1990s, father-son team Fernand and Laurent Pillot extended their family’s vineyard holdings to also include a few incredible plots in neighboring Pommard and Volnay.Today, the Pillots cultivate 15 hilly hectares, covering 50 parcels (including 12 Premiers Crus). Since Fernand’s retirement, Laurent and his son Adrien are continuing the family’s legacy with a tireless focus on maintaining the utmost quality. Everything is harvested and sorted by hand and yields are kept painfully low. Every plot is worked under strict “agrobiologie” principles, and the estate has been proudly HVE-3 certified since 2021 - no easy feat. The family have also been members of the environmental research group DEPHY-EcoPhyto since 2012.

Two parcels of vines in the low Rugiens and One parcel in the high Rugiens are combined to produce this Pommard 1er Cru. The most remarkable appellation in the Côte de Beaune for Pinot Noir. The Pommard Rugiens has applied for Grand Cru status.

The grapes are hand-picked, transported to the winery, destemmed and put into tank. After a few days of cold maceration, the alcoholic fermentation is traditionally started with regular cap punching, thus enabling very controlled temperature regulations of the fermenting grapes. The wine is aged for 18–19 months in French oak barrels (80–100% new); it benefits from bottle aging as well.

A wine with an energetic character, it is full-colored ruby and dark purple. Virile, with concentrated cherry and raspberry flavours, then changing with time to pepper, liquorice and eucalyptus, lovely soft tannins.