Domaine du Comte Armand

Bettane & Desseauve, Grand guide des vins de France 2011 :
« Benjamin Leroux a infléchi le style des vins du domaine vers plus d’élégance d’arômes et de texture, sans diminuer l’étonnante vinosité et la puissance de caractère qui sont la marque du superbe Clos des Épeneaux. Ses derniers millésimes sont des classiques de la Bourgogne d’aujourd’hui, et montrent à tout Pommard ou presque, l’exemple à suivre. »

RVF, Les meilleurs vins de France 2011 : domaine classé **
« Ce domaine qui jouit d’une grande réputation a toujours produit des vins puissants et riches. Fermes et tanniques durant leurs premières années de vie, les célèbres pommards de la maison – dont le Clos des Épeneaux en monopole – semblent avoir gagné en raffinement, sous l’impulsion de Benjamin Leroux. »

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate :
« Benjamin Leroux experienced the latest picking of his career in 2008 (not commencing until September 29) and second earliest in 2007 (commencing August 30, but then with fits and starts). As he was the first to bring up, though, the former would have been deemed « normal » two decades or more ago. « For all the difficulties we had in the vineyards, » he remarked, « in the end 2008 was easy to harvest, since the prolonged north wind took care of the triage. In fact, we did more triage in the cellar in 2009 than in 2008. And, like 2007, the vinification was not complicated. The yields, though, were down in 2008 to a mere 20 hectoliters per hectare, except in the Clos des Epeneaux, where we got 25. » The 2008s here were in tank awaiting bottling when I tasted them in mid-April – having at last finished malo-lactic conversion in autumn – all but one having only recently been racked from barrel. »

Allen Meadow’s Burghound.com :
« Benjamin Leroux described the 2008 vintage as one where "it wasn’t easy from a viticultural standpoint. On the other hand, we had the huge benefit of the north wind knocking down the rot and drying out affected berries such that we actually had less sorting required in 2008 than in 2009. Unfortunately, the evaporation caused by the wind cost us a lot of potential yield. For example, in the Clos des Epeneaux yields were only about 25 hl/ha. As to the vinification, it was easy and while I did a slightly softer extraction, it really wasn’t much for the simple reason that with good sugars and ripe tannins, there really wasn’t any particular reason to rein things in unduly. Overall, the quality of the '08s is more consistent than that of the '07s and the style of the wines is entirely classic. »

Domaine du Comte Armand - Bourgogne