Château Certan de May: Vineyards
The Château Certan de May estate lies in an enviable position on the Pomerol plateau, across the road from Vieux Château Certan. Viewed from the grounds of its larger and rather more imposing neighbour it at first seems rather understated and bijou. Approach the estate from the north-east, however, from the direct of Château Lafleur and Petrus, both of which are near neighbours, and the full name of Château Certan de May de Certan is proudly displayed in large script on the side of the chai; this is not really the shrinking violet that it at first perhaps appears to be.
The vineyard amounts to just 5 hectares and appears to be little changed in size since the time of the division of the Certan estate, that which created both Petit-Certan and Vieux Château Certan. Having said that, writing in Pomerol (Wine Journal Publishing, 2013) Neal Martin documents the purchase of two small plots at the far end of the vineyard by Jean-Luc Barreau in the early 1990s, an expansion of which I was previously unaware.
The terroir here is gravelly over two-thirds of the vineyard, as you would expect on this section of the plateau, with more prominent clay over the remaining one-third. The vines are predominantly Merlot, this variety accounting for 70% of the vineyard, with 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.
