Château Vieux Maillet: Vineyards
As indicated in my introduction Château Vieux Maillet is located in Maillet, which sits towards the eastern end of the Pomerol appellation. Gathered within the hamlet there is also the aforementioned Château Le Bon Pasteur, along with Château Thibeaud Maillet, Château Maillet, Château Franc Maillet and Château Chantecaille Clauzel (well, I did warn you that Château Le Bon Pasteur was the best known). To the north runs the Barbanne, the boundary with the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation, and to the east and the south are the Corbin secteur estates of the St Emilion appellation, including Château Corbin, Château Grand Corbin and Château Grand Corbin Despagne. Just to the west, however, are some of the greatest names in Pomerol, including Château L’Évangile and Petrus.
Despite the proximity of these great estates, the Maillet secteur is undeniably peripheral, the land falling away here towards the Barbanne, and this certainly influences the soil profile here, which is decidedly sandy. Most of the vines are gathered on these soils located close to the château, although some are more distant, including a 2-hectare parcel which originally came from Château Rouget, and a 1.7-hectare parcel which came to the estate from Château Mazeyres. After the acquisition of 3.7 hectares from Château Lafleur-Gazin by Frédéric Stévenin there are now 10.5 hectares of vines here (presumably a few of the lesser parcels acquired during the van Malderen-Laviale era have been sold off), otherwise I expect this figure would be higher.
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