The 2016 Pommard 1er Cru Epenots was cropped at around a respectable 35-37 hectoliters per hectare. It has a lovely, heart-warming bouquet brimming with red cherries and crushed strawberry fruit laced with minerals. The palate is tightly wound with firm tannin, backward and sultry at first, though there is good substance locked into this wine, and it exerts a gentle but insistent grip on the finish. Afford it 3 or 4 years in your cellar for those tannins to loosen up because this is as good as the 2015 last year.

The 2015 Pommard 1er Cru Les Epenots was one of the standouts from Dubreuil-Fontaine this year. It has an impressive, well-defined, very focused bouquet with blackberry, raspberry, damp earth and woodlands scents. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, well-judged acidity, very harmonious with a spicy, lively finish that belies that structure underneath. It will be approachable young but it has the substance to age.

The 2014 Pommard 1er Cru Epenots was hailed on severely this year. It does lack a little fruit intensity on the nose, a bit pulverized by the hail perhaps. The palate is better, quite smooth in the mouth with a nice, fleshy, if simplistic finish. Drink over the next 3-5 years; I think the domaine will produce a far better 2015 (without the hail).

The 2013 Pommard 1er Cru Epenots, which comes from Grand Epenots and Petit Epenots, has a floral, perfumed bouquet with wilted rose petals infusing the redcurrant and fresh raspberry scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, very well-judged acidity, harmonious in the mouth with a silky smooth finish. This is one of the domaine’s best contributions in 2013.

The 2012 Pommard 1er Cru Epenots is a blend of Grand and Petit Epenots; two parcels that together make 0.60-hectares. It has a fresh, vibrant bouquet with lush blackberry and raspberry fruit. The palate has a structured entry with good acidity. This feels masculine, a little “distant” compared to the Volnay and Aloxe-Corton, with a slightly attenuated but fresh finish. Fine – but it needs to come out of its shell by the time of bottling. My first visit of my fortnight stint in Burgundy was to a grower whose wines I have frequently enjoyed in recent years, but whose Pernand-Vergelesses winery I had never visited: Dubreuil-Fontaine. Most people have probably driven past in on their way up to Bonneau du Martray, but my advice is to take time and visit, because the wines make it all worthwhile. Christine Gruere Dubreuil started working with her father Bernard in 1991, tending holdings in Pommard, Volnay and Beaune that were handed down from her mother’s side of the family. The winery itself was built in 1985. She took sole responsibility for the winemaking in 2000, the fifth generation to do so. She currently looks after around 20-hectares of vine tended under lutte raisonnee principles scattered over 20 lieux-dits around Pernand-Vergelesses and Corton, plus nearby appellations. “It was a difficult vintage with the weather,” she told me in her superb English learned from her time in California. “We got hail in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune but in Pernand-Vergelesses it was fine. However yields were not high because of the cold weather during flowering, but finally the grapes looked good and there was no grey rot. We started the harvest around the 20 September and we did not need much sorting. We are happy with the vintage. The whites were just bottled just before crush and the reds will be bottled between December and March. We made pigeage twice daily during fermentation with some remontage towards the end depending on cru. I don’t like to extract too much.” I tasted most of the wines with Christine. I had wanted to return to finish them off but I ran out of time that day. But I thoroughly enjoyed what I did taste. These wines are clean and fresh, adept at expressing their unique terroirs, making the use of their old vine parcels. The use of oak here is nicely judged, around 25% for the village crus and around 30 to 35% for the grand cru. Prices look very reasonable compared to others and I certainly would be stocking up with Christine’s whites and reds in 2012. Importer: APS Wine & Spirits, 9401 San Leandro St, Oakland, CA 94603 Tel; 510 638 5200 and DB Wines in Boston. Also available through Avery’s and Laithwaites/Direct Wines in UK.