2018 Domaine de Montille - Pommard Les Rugiens Bas (750ml) [PRE ARRIVAL]

Domaine de Montille is one of the Côte d'Or's most storied family estates, with roots tracing to the mid-eighteenth century. Its modern reputation was built by the Dijon lawyer Hubert de Montille, who inherited 2.5 hectares in Volnay in 1947 and gradually added holdings in Pommard and Puligny, farming with an austere philosophy of low alcohol and firm tannin. His son Etienne took over fully in 1995, introduced organic farming that same year, moved to biodynamics in 2005, and earned Ecocert Bio certification in 2012. The domaine now spans roughly 37 hectares across 35 appellations.

Les Rugiens Bas occupies the lower, most prized section of Pommard's Les Rugiens climat, on a sloping, rocky subsoil rich in iron that gives the site its reputation as the appellation's finest terroir. The vines here are around fifty-five years old. Etienne de Montille and chef de cave Brian Sieve avoid a fixed winemaking formula, adjusting the proportion of whole clusters and new oak each vintage to suit the character of the harvest, with this bottling built from a substantial share of whole bunches.

The 2018 is intense and brooding, framed by dark fruit such as damson, blackcurrant, and black cherry, lifted by a floral note of violet and an unexpected top note of blood orange. The iron-driven structure gives real grip and muscle beneath a still-youthful surface, with a long, mineral finish that points toward a wine built for extended aging.