Domaine Launay-Horiot
I am increasingly impressed by Pommard and so am taking on new domaines from this village such as Launay-Horiot, who are new to our range this year. Owner Xavier Horiot was formerly a fighter pilot for the French Air Force. The Launays originated from Chassagne in 1860. The domaine had 12ha of vines at its height but now has 4ha, mainly in Pommard with grands crus Latricières Chambertin and Chambertin.
Xavier makes really fine wines. That may seem an odd remark given Pommard’s reputation for power. But the domaines we work with in Pommard (De Montille, Comte Armand and Rebourgeon Mure) all treat their grapes gently and so do not extract dry tannins. Here, the grapes are all destemmed. He has a very light hand in the cellar, preferring just to extract the best fractions of the fermenting wines and so produces exquisite, fine-boned, graceful wines. The defining character of his wines is intensity of flavour rather than power. He began the harvest on 16th September, making between 13-30hl/ha with potential alcohols of 13.5-14%. The wines are bottled with Diam corks.