Bordeaux 2013 Primeurs: Pomerol Tasting Notes
Beyond some of these big names there are other successes in Pomerol in 2013. I was impressed by the wine of Château Clinet, which has an admirable depth of substance for the vintage. Château La Conseillante, recently expanded with the acquisition of a prized 0.3-hectare plot (the deal having been done in the week or two prior to the primeurs), was also showing well. I thought the wine of Château Le Bon Pasteur was also attractive; this is another property that has undergone some transition in 2013, Michel Rolland having sold the estate to a new proprietor. He and his team are still looking after the wine though, and they have produced something worthwhile in 2013.
The portfolio presented at Château Le Gay was impressive, and although none really hit the unscalable heights set by the likes of Château L’Évangile, there was a consistency of confidence, ripeness and texture running throughout the range which transcended the nature of the vintage. This even includes the wine of Château Montviel, from the lesser terroirs down on the sandy soils at the foot of the plateau. This brings me back to another key feature upon which I have touched in previous reports on the 2013 vintage, and that is what would usually be regarded as petits vins – in the case of Pomerol, wines from the more sandy terroirs near Montviel, or perhaps from the sandy slope along the Barbanne, have done better than some grander names, including some properties on the gravelly plateau. It is, perhaps, winemaking know-how that has made the difference.
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