Château Léoville-Poyferré
Et je ne comprends pas quel expert inhabile
A pu dans les seconds classer le Léoville
– Les Grands Vins de Bordeaux, Pierre Biarnez, 1849
The Bordeaux-minded poet Pierre Biarnez (1798 – 1874) was never short of a word or two regarding his favourite châteaux and some of the Bordeaux wine trade’s more prominent figures during the 19th century. When it came to Château Léoville-Poyferré he seems to have been particularly opinionated, clearly failing to grasp exactly why this property had been ranked among the deuxième cru classé domaines of St Julien. At first glance it seems like a rather damning statement but, as we read on, his feelings soon become clear. It was not that Biarnez felt Château Léoville-Poyferré had been ranked too high. Rather, he felt the estate had been ranked too low, and should in fact have been placed among the first growths, alongside Château Lafite, Château Latour, Château Margaux and Château Haut-Brion. That’s quite a statement to make.
During my early encounters with the wines of Château Léoville-Poyferré, which really means the wines of the 1970s and 1980s, thoughts of promotion to first growth status for this domaine could not have been further from my mind. At that time, this section of the original Léoville estate was regarded as seriously underperforming. All three domaines had experienced the difficulties of the 19th and 20th centuries, from new vine diseases through to economic depression and war, but whereas Château Léoville-Las-Cases and Château Léoville-Barton seemed to have come through all this with aplomb, at Château Léoville-Poyferré there had been a quite significant decline.
