Bordeaux 2016 at Two Years: Pomerol
With this instalment of my report on the 2016 vintage now that the wines are in bottle we come to Pomerol, home to some of the most famous names in all Bordeaux. These are also some of the region’s most expensive wines of course, but Pomerol is still an appellation that should interest those shopping on a budget which precludes the purchase of Methuselahs of Petrus and Nebuchadnezzars of Le Pin. If you know where to look (where on the slope, and where in my tasting notes) then you can still find some delicious wines here which can be added to the cellar without breaking the bank.
Having mentioned those most famed châteaux, we should perhaps start there, with Petrus. I turned up at Petrus to find the gate locked, but I was a few minutes early, and it was not long before Olivier Berrouet appeared. He poured the 2016 Petrus with a nonchalance I imagine few of us could imitate were we holding the same bottle in our hands. Not for the first time this is a wine which seems to transcend the variety (it is 100% Merlot, Cabernet Franc having been pulled up when the cellars were rebuilt and it has apparently not yet returned to the vineyard), showing a beautiful but restrained character, with a superb structure carrying forward the flavours of black fruits, tobacco and toast. As for Le Pin, Jacques Thienpont was busy in Vienna at the time of my visit, so he had asked his cousin Alexandre Thienpont to show me the wine. Sadly Alexandre had forgotten this (or maybe nobody told him in the first place), so I had to give him a nudge during my visit to Vieux Château Certan. We headed over to Le Pin in convoy, and I tasted the 2016 in the basement cellars. This is, like Petrus, 100% Merlot, and it shows more minerally elements wrapped up in dark chocolate, praline and cocoa beans. Finely textured and tightly knit, this is an impressive cuvée.
While both wines are clearly excellent, they are not my favourites in the appellation in this vintage. For those we must head back to Vieux Château Certan, where Alexandre has turned out a superb 2016. While it is strong on Merlot, at 85% of the blend, the 14% Cabernet Franc (there is also 1% Cabernet Sauvignon) really shines through here, adding facets of aroma and flavour which a cuvée made with purely Merlot will always struggle to achieve. Perfumed with violets, laden with silky tannins, but with a taut and sinewy texture, this is one of the greatest wines in this vintage, and I think it is the finest young wine I have ever tasted from this estate. The 2015 might have more thrust and impact, but nothing can beat this wine which displays a fabulously sinewy density set against a light-footed deftness on the palate, so finely balanced, and so typical of the 2016 vintage.
