Bordeaux 2018 Primeurs: Pomerol
I visited a considerable number of châteaux in the Pomerol appellation over the course of four days, so many in truth that it will de difficult to encapsulate how the people of this appellation experienced the 2018 vintage in just one report. It is essential that I try, however, as while some in Pomerol present a fairly typical story of rain and mildew, followed by sunshine and smiles, others in this appellation have a different view of the vintage and what it means for Bordeaux. So there is no gentle preamble to this instalment of my 2018 Bordeaux primeurs report; let’s get started with my very first visit on the penultimate day of my tasting trip, at Château La Conseillante.
The Story in Pomerol
Marielle Cazaux, estate manager of Château La Conseillante, presented a fairly typical story of how 2018 went, starting with wet weather, high humidity and a high disease pressure. “Since 2016 we have been organic, with a little biodynamics too, but in 2018 we decided to spray a synthetic treatment, just after the flowering, in order to get through the mildew”. Château La Conseillante is not alone in this; a number of domaines which are experimenting with organics and biodynamics cracked in this most difficult of vintages. The result, if you didn’t, was the sort of yields seen at Château Palmer (11 hl/ha) and Château Pontet-Canet (10.5 hl/ha). “We had a little coulure on the Merlots”, she continued when I asked about the yields here, “but it was not bad, and in the end we had 32 hl/ha, when the norm is more like 38 to 40 hl/ha. It was the drying wind from the east which came in September which did that”.
Jean-Pascal Vazart (pictured) at Château L’Évangile had a similar experience, although he was more concerned about coulure. “From April to June we had lots of rain, and some disturbed flowering”. Olivier Berrouet denies having had any problems with mildew at Petrus, although I suspect this indicates an efficient response to applying treatments in the vineyard, as it does anywhere else where mildew was not seen as a problem. “This was a vintage during which you had to be out in the vines”, said Marielle Cazaux.
