Château de Pommard, a nearly 300-year-old winery in the heart of Burgundy, is bracing for a 40% drop in its 2024 production, but remains committed to maintaining stable prices, according to the winery.
Earlier, France has lowered its estimate for 2024 wine production for the second time this year, with the Burgundy region expecting a 35% decrease. Louis Latour, another storied estate, previously revealed to us that its 2024 production will only be a third of 2023’s.
Despite this decline, the winery will not be increasing its prices, according to Rémi Marchand, the Global Export Director of Château de Pommard, who spoke to us during his visit to Hong Kong.
As Marchand noted, Château de Pommard’s average annual production hovers around 50,000 bottles but 2024 is expected to be a small vintage for the winery, with a forecasted 40% decrease in production following a generous 2023 vintage.
Typically, a decrease in production volume leads to price hikes, but Château de Pommard remains steadfast in maintaining stable pricing given Bourgogne prices have seen notable spikes in recent years.
“When you lose most of your production, of course, it brings a lot of pressure on every winery. But during such a turmoil in the economy, you need to also take care of your partners,” he continued.
In smaller vintages, precision and quality become paramount, Marchand said, sharing that he personally worked at the sorting table to ensure only the best grapes were selected. “Sorting is the key during these difficult years, and we were really precise in our work. I was at the sorting table, trying my best to find the best grapes. The whole team is helping with the harvest,” he described.
Go Organic and Global with the New Owner
In 2014, Michael Baum, an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, acquired the historic Château de Pommard founded in 1726. Changes are inevitable, considering the innovative spirit of the new owner, a pioneer in the ever-evolving world of technology. Under his leadership, the nearly three-century-old winery underwent significant transformations, including an organic conversion and the establishment of a new distribution team.
Organic conversion began in 2016, and by 2019, Clos Marey-Monge, the 20-hectare vineyard owned by Château de Pommard, received organic certification from the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) in France. Two years later, the winery achieved biodynamic certification from Demeter.
Speaking of the 2021 vintage, despite very low yield, the wines turned out to be “very pure, fruit-forward, vibrant and nice to drink now,”he described. Its Monopole 2021 earned a perfect score of 100 points awarded by the Gaia Wine Challenge.
Under Baum’s leadership, distribution has become the primary channel for wine sales at Château de Pommard, shifting away from the traditional focus on direct sales. The international market is a key priority for the winery, with 70% of its business coming from exports.
Marchard, who lived in China for five years and was looking after the export market for Asia and Europe, was then promoted as Global Export Director under the new drive.
“We didn’t have a real professional distribution system. We started it in 2019 when we created the trade department and began distributing our wines to professionals,” Marchand recalled, who worked for Grands Chais de France and Georges Vigouroux (Cahors) in Asia prior to joining Chateau de Pommard.
“It went a bit against the original philosophy of the Château,” Marchand commented, emphasizing that welcoming people to the winery was central to Château de Pommard’s philosophy. “But it was really important to reach out to wine professionals to present our wines. This is the key to increasing the understanding and presence of our wines,” he continued.
Micro Terroir: The Burgundy Spirit
Under Baum, Château de Pommard made a renewed emphasis on Burgundy’s climats. According to Marchand, the winery previously produced only one wine, which had been a Monopole for a century.
The transition began in 2017 when the winery started exploring the micro-conditions of different plots of land to create more distinctive wines, informed by the research of soil microbiologists Claude and Lydia Bourguignon.
Focusing on small cuvées, Château de Pommard identified seven different types of soils located close to each other. “When you taste the seven wines side by side, you discover that you have seven different Pommards from the same place, just five meters apart. That’s the beauty of Burgundy,” Marchand described.
“This idea helped us to get back to the true burgundy spirit, which is micro terroir: only the soil expressing itself,” he explained, highlighting the significance of distinguishing the seven types of soils. “That’s what works on-premises because you are going to taste a pure terroir expression.”
Innovation continues at this historic estate. “There are still hidden secrets in Burgundy that we didn’t know about before. We can still discover new things,” Marchand said proudly, “We are lucky to have an owner that has a strong focus on the wine first and foremost. He is passionate about wine, with great help from the winemaking team.
Asia, the Primary Export Market
Unlike most Burgundy wineries that primarily focus on the British and American markets, the Asian market accounts for an impressive 60% of Château de Pommard’s total exports.
The personal backgrounds of the distribution team have contributed to the Asia-focused strategy. Marchand had lived in China for five years, while another team member spent eight years there. These experiences have enabled them to allocate more resources to the Asian market, resulting in positive returns.
Pandemic disruptions led Château de Pommard to pause distribution in mainland China, but Hong Kong remains a top market, working closely with Links Concept, one of Asia’s Top 50 Wine Importers. Most of its wines sold in Hong Kong are priced over HK$1,000 (US$ 128.65), while Japan and Korea lead in volume.
Southeast Asia, the emerging market demonstrating great potential, has also caught the winery’s attention. “We have seen a rise of fine wine consumption in most of Southeast Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, and even Indonesia and Malaysia were really strong,” Marchand noted.
“It was difficult in Malaysia because COVID had a really strong impact on the economy. Nonetheless, they still really had a good consumption of white wine.” He continued.
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