Domaine Jean Michel Gaunoux’s Pommard Les Perrières 2014 sits between the elegantly resolved 2011 and 2013 magnums offered in Batch 13 and the generous, riper 2018 and 2019 of Batch 10, occupying the 2014 vintage’s distinctly classical register. The 2014 Burgundy vintage is now widely regarded as one of the finest of the past fifteen years for red wines, producing wines of exceptional freshness, structure and classical Pinot Noir character from a growing season that alternated between challenging weather conditions and an exceptional Indian summer that ripened the fruit to ideal phenolic maturity without sacrificing the natural acidity that is the hallmark of great red Burgundy. At Gaunoux, where the traditional approach of firm extraction and minimal intervention produces wines of considerable structural ambition, the 2014’s natural tension provides exactly the kind of structural backbone that ageing in magnum over a long period requires.

Les Perrières in Pommard is the estate’s finest Premier Cru holding, a site of stony, mineral-dominant limestone and clay on the southern boundary of the appellation that produces wines of greater precision and mineral depth than the more famous Pommard Premier Crus of Rugiens and Epenots. The 2014 vintage’s natural acidity and structure complement this terroir’s character with particular aptness, and a magnum of this wine will reward patient cellaring for another decade from the current date before reaching its true peak of complexity and integration.

The Gaunoux Pommard magnums appearing across Batches 10, 13 and 14 (2001, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019) collectively offer a compelling opportunity to study this single Premier Cru across seven vintages spanning a generation of winemaking from the same traditional family estate. For those seeking a specific vintage to add to this vertical or beginning to build it for the first time, the 2014 is the magnum that arguably combines the greatest balance of current accessibility and future potential.

Deep ruby with a refined and classical nose of red cherry, iron, dried rose petal, leather, spice and the precise mineral character of Les Perrières limestone. Full-bodied with firm tannins still integrating in magnum, excellent natural acidity and a long, mineral, structured finish of genuine Premier Cru depth. Best from 2027 through 2042.