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Château Gombaude Guillot

Pomerol is one of the smallest of the best-known communes in Bordeaux, coming in at about 780 hectares, a mote compared to neighbouring St Emilion's 1200 hectares. This, and the high prices fetched by the wines of some of its leading estates, famous names such as Le Pin and Petrus, have helped to push land values sky high, to the point where this is France's most expensive vineyard outside the best slopes of Champagne.

With this in mind it is tempting to believe that there are no discoveries to be made in Pomerol, that every inch of vineyard must have long since been planted and harvested, very wine marketed, reviewed and drunk to death. But this certainly isn't the case; there is in fact a small legion of lesser estates exploiting often very small tracts of vineyard, and they and their wines await discovery. Although you might think these estates are well hidden in backwaters of the appellation, that is not necessarily the case. Take Château Gombaude-Guillot for instance, an estate that has a surprisingly prominent position, very close to Pomerol's church and some illustrious neighbours.

History

The early history of Gombaude-Guillot seems fuzzy, nothing new for the Pomerol appellation of course. The estate passed into the hands of the Bélevier family as a dowry upon the marriage of Marie Bélevier in 1868, although it seems that whatever story exists before this date is lost. It has remained in the hands of the Bélevier family through to modern day. The little château - which sits on the roadside within sight of the church - was originally a café which would fill up with thirsty worshippers after mass, but it was acquired by the Béleviers in 1922 and subsequently converted for the purpose of winemaking.

Today it is Claire Laval (right) who holds responsibility for running Gombaude-Guillot, alongside partner Dominique Techer and their son, Olivier Techer. Claire is Marie Bélevier's great-granddaughter, an agricultural scientist by training with a specific interest in soil types in relation to cattle farming, and no doubt this knowledge has been useful in her moving the estate towards organics in preference to more chemically-dependent methods of viticulture. Nevertheless I don't think taking over the running of the estate was an ambition she held dear; Claire left Bordeaux to study and work and was happily settled in Franche-Comté on the border with Switzerland until 1982 when her father announced he was retiring from the running of the family's estate. It was only then that she returned to Bordeaux, the following year, to take control of Gombaude Guillot.

The Vineyards & Wines

The estate has a prime location, being a mere stone's through from the church of Pomerol on the Pomerol plateau, which means it counts L'Église-Clinet, Clinet and even Petrus (OK, down the road a little, but not that far away!) among its very nearest neighbours. There are 7 hectares planted to vines, the soil underfoot the typical Pomerol clay with some gravel, although at the very western end as the slope falls away there are some more sandy soils here. The vines are 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, with an average age of more than 40 years and planted at a density of 6500 vines/hectare, with cover crops planted in the rows between the vines. Laval undertakes leaf-thinning during the summer.

Having converted the vineyards to organic viticulture in 1992 (achieving full Ecocert certification in 1998), eschewing the chemical herbicides and fungicides in common use in Bordeaux, Claire Laval has since taken the next step with biodynamics. Today the entire vineyard is run according to these mystical philosophies, and as such I tend to think of Gombaude-Guillot as a wine beget of biodynamics rather than of Bordeaux. Not being a member of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux the estate, like so many of the myriad of little and lesser known Pomerol properties, are not encountered at the UGC tastings that are hosted during the primeurs, or which tour the world taking the wines of the latest vintage to London, Paris, Hong Kong and the USA. They are, however, occasionally encountered at events with an organic or biodynamic focus, such as at Nicolas Joly's Renaissance tastings where Claire Laval often stands alone under the Bordeaux banner, a solitary biodynamic representative from the region (such tastings are not on Pontet Canet's radar, it seems).

The harvest is entirely by hand, with a rather restrained yield of 35-40 hl/ha, and the freshly-picked fruit is fermented in a mix of concrete and stainless steel vessels, with thermoregulation, using only the indigenous yeasts that reside in the vineyard and winery. There is no use of enzymes, and sulphur dioxide use is minimised as far as seen fit. The élevage is in oak barriques, made from Alliers wood, typically 50% new. The eventual bottling, which gives less than 3500 cases per annum, is carried out without filtration. The grand vin Château Gombaude Guillot accounts for most of the production, although there are in this total typically about 500 cases of the second wine, Cadet de Gombaude.

Tasting & Drinking Gombaude-Guillot

So why has Gombaude-Guillot such a low profile when it has such an exalted position within the appellation, has the dedicated and fastidious Laval-Techer team at the wheel, and seems to be turning out such carefully-made wines? I suspect there are several reasons, and the first is that Claire Laval and Dominique Techer are clearly ploughing their own furrow, one that runs in a very different direction from many of their Pomerol and Bordeaux compatriots. Their distinct philosophies leave them somewhat isolated, having more in common with biodynamic estates located in far-distant wine regions than their neighbours. They are no doubt part of Bordeaux, but they don't seem to be part of the Bordeaux marketing machine. This is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, I am certain there are many potential customers out there who would see this isolation as a very positive attribute.

That they are somewhat isolated from the Bordeaux roadshow is perhaps reflected in Techer's recent move to sue the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), a body which collects fees from all Bordeaux estates to fund generic marketing for the region. Disenchanted with the performance of the CIVB, which Techer asserts has wasted the compulsory fees which add up several hundred thousand Euros (almost enough to buy a hectare of Pomerol vineyard), he has created along with several of his peers the Comité d'Action des Vignerons de Bordeaux (with the confusingly similar acronym CAVB), an action group intent on taking the CIVB to court in order to try and claw back the paid compulsory fees. Wherever this action leads, it seems that the distance between Gombaude Guillot and the rest of Bordeaux is only set to widen.

Of course there is one other reason why Gombaude-Guillot might not have a higher profile, and that naturally relates to the wines themselves. My experiences with the wines of Gombaude-Guillot is limited, and indeed it is at the aforementioned biodynamic Renaissance des Appellations tasting that I met Claire Laval and tasted her wines. The style is brighter and leaner than I perhaps expected for the appellation, occasionally markedly perfumed (an attractive feature), the palate following up with an incisive, razor-sharp structure rather than the more flattering substance that I perhaps anticipated, especially considering the estate's prime position. Unusually, I found that the wines on show seemed to perform directly against my personal vintage hierarchy, with 2007 - a year for wet, green and weedy wines - curiously outperforming the 2008 and 2006, both much more respectable vintages. One conclusion might be, of course, that the latter two vintages were simply not ready, whereas the lesser 2007 was open for business. But the wines didn't say this to me. Nor did the more mature 2004, poured alongside, suggest any great potential for the future. In short, although I found the wines to be attractive, aromatically at least, they did not fill me with the confidence that would be required for me to buy and cellar them. And in today's Bordeaux, if your wines don't inspire either with great quality, value or potential, you are always going to struggle to get noticed. (25/8/11)

Contact details:
Address: 4, chemins Les Grands Vignes, 33500 Pomerol
Telephone: +33 (0) 5 57 51 17 40
Fax: +33 (0) 5 57 25 92 15
Internet: www.chateau-gombaude-guillot.com
GPS: 44.932064, -0.203964

Château Gombaude Guillot - Tasting Notes

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Château Gombaude Guillot (Pomerol) 2008: This vintage, very recently bottled, has a slightly smoky, hot-stone character on the nose, giving it a rather appealing perfume. It shows a good composition on the palate, a more appealing balance especially. A good substance on the palate, firm though, with correct acidity. The finish has a fresh and sappy punch. This is an attractive wine, but one that undoubtedly needs a little time yet. 15/20 (February 2011)

Château Gombaude Guillot (Pomerol) 2007: A warm, sweet and perfumed fruit style on the nose here, showing a lot of Cabernet Franc character, as usual this accounting for about 20% of the final blend. Behind it all an intense, blackcurrant, pastille-like sweetness. There is an attractive substance on the palate, which shows a supple structure, the body of the wine nicely fleshed out. A perfumed edge to the fruit as the nose started out, with a correct balance of acid, structure and substance overall. Appealing and well-judged. 15.5/20 (February 2011)

Château Gombaude Guillot (Pomerol) 2006: A nice bright hue in the glass. The nose has a remarkably perfumed style, bright and precise, a characteristic that runs through all the vintages here, with a warm fruit character behind. The Cabernet Franc shows through, again making up 20% of the blend. Rather a supple style on entry, building to a more spicy core of fruit in the midpalate, and it shows some power and structure here, although the Cabernet Franc perfume never falls away. It does take on an awkward appearance thereafter, showing a rather bare structure with a rather firmer presence than the light flesh of the wine can cope with. Some potential here, perhaps. 15/20 (February 2011)

Château Gombaude Guillot (Pomerol) 2004: Despite having only six years behind it, this wine is showing a lot of mature characteristics already. The nose has a lovely, leafy, tobacco-infused style with floral overtones. Aromatically this is certainly attractive. The palate is a middleweight, but without the charm I was hoping for after such a pretty start. It has a really bold and austere texture, with lots of spice and backbone but without the flesh to balance it out. Perhaps these structural elements will soften with time, in which case it may warrant a higher score. 14?/20 (February 2011)