A Legend In The Making
2012 Comte Armand Pommard
1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux MAGNUMS
Total Production: 4,000 Magnums
"Readers who can find the 2012 should not hesitate, as it is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage."
-Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media
Vintage after vintage, Comte Armand's Clos des Epeneaux is one of the top wines produced in all of Pommard. There's no mistaking the grandeur, the complexity and outright breeding that Clos des Epeneaux delivers.
The 2012 promises to be an absolutely monumental example of this wine. And in short supply...
Like d'Angerville's Clos des Ducs, the Clos des Epeneaux was bottled only in magnum in 2012. Only 4,000 were produced. Compare this to the 22,000 bottles that are released in a normal year. The format clues you into the ageability of the vintage and Clos des Epeneaux in general.
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In 2008, Burghound more or less flipped over a bottle of 1864. His tasting note clearly shows the elite level that Clos des Epeneaux can inhabit, "the sheer depth and extract reminded me more than a little of some of the great bottles of Romanée-Conti and La Romanée that I have had from this era."
Pommard, like Nuits St. Georges and Gevrey, produces dense, fiercely muscular wines. Like Nuits St. Georges, Pommard doesn't have any Grand Crus. Pommard's 1er Crus, like Rugiens and especially Epenots, can compete with Grand Crus. Clos des Epeneaux is a walled monopole of Comte Armand that produces what's likely the finest example of the 1er Cru Epenots. Matt Kramer calls their Clos des Epeneaux "Epenots magnified."
To focus only on how packed and powerful Clos des Epeneaux is would miss a key component. With time, it's capable of heartbreaking elegance. For all of its muscle, as Clos des Epeneaux evolves, an emphatic silken element emerges.
By all accounts the 2012 Clos des Epeneaux is a drop dead gorgeous wine. It operates on a huge scale with a saturating complexity, a formidable structure and suave texture.
It's impossible not to imagine this becoming a legendary bottle. I imagine that those in the know will snap this up and our modest stock will disappear. Please give us your ideal order and we'll try our best.
To order, reply to offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits
Antonio Galloni: "In most vintages, there are three distinct cuvees that make up the final blend for the flagship Pommard Clos des Epeneaux, but in 2012 there are just two. The first cuvee, from the top of the vineyard, is intensely tannic and structured. Floral notes lead to dark red cherries and crushed rocks in a wine that is all about crystalline purity and delineation. The second cuv"ee, from the bottom of the hill, presents more depth and volume. A representation of the final blend is striking. Sadly, the entire production will be bottled only in magnums, of which there will be just 4,000 to go around, versus the normal production of about 22,000 bottles. Readers who can find the 2012 should not hesitate, as it is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage."