Château Pouget
I suspect the closest many people come to a bottle of Château Pouget is on their arrival in Bordeaux, at Mérignac. This is where the region’s airport is located, and the terminal is designed to leave you in no doubt as to where you have just landed. Outside the main building there are several plots of vines; only the most unobservant will fail to notice that they must traverse a small vineyard on the way to pick up their hire car. And, as if to put to bed any confusion as to what these vines are for, a number of the rotating luggage carousels are decorated with immense replica bottles which stand at least three metres high (not including the pedestal on which these bottles rest).
You might expect the choice of bottles on display to be obvious; Château Lafite-Rothschild maybe, Château Margaux, or maybe a right bank stalwart such as Château Cheval Blanc or Petrus. But it isn’t so; on the whole, the labels reflect big business Bordeaux more than the grand terroirs, négociant labels dominate, and iconic châteaux like those mentioned above are conspicuous by their absence. And yet, curiously, there is one interloper from among the ranks of the grand cru classé châteaux and, as you might already have guessed, it is Château Pouget.
