Château Paloumey: Tasting & Drinking
Having first encountered the wines of Château Paloumey more than a few years ago, and then retasting them during the course of the years that followed, I found I was impressed not only by the quality of the wines, but also the consistency. This was no one-hit wonder, but an estate turning out attractive wines of a classically reserved style which deserved to be better known.
Since then, and particularly in more recent years, I have endeavoured to taste and retaste the wines of Château Paloumey every year, and I have not been disappointed. This is a fine property, run to exacting ideals by Pierre Cazeneuve, with rigorous adherence to organic (and biodynamic) methods, but also a cast-iron adoption of sustainability as a key tenet.
Below I present a selection of tasting notes of wines encountered over the past decade or two, including a smattering of notes on vintages tasted when I visited the property in April 2025 to see for myself Pierre’s work. Sadly Pierre did not put on a wild-water swimming display for me, but I still enjoyed my glimpse into his world of sustainable winemaking.
Recent vintages of merit include 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2016 and 2015, the latter vintage one which favoured the southern part of the Médoc; most Bordeaux critics tend to mention only Margaux, but there is a lot more to this corner of the Bordeaux wine region than just Margaux. Having said that, the 2014 vintage showed rather well too. (2/4/25)
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