Bordeaux 2022 Primeurs: Pomerol
One Pomerol factoid that most Bordeaux savants know is that it has no classification (and having seen the fall-out from the 2022 iteration of the St Emilion classification, I imagine few in the appellation would support creating one). But the independent and individualistic mindset this perhaps fosters feeds into all things Pomerol; only a handful of châteaux are members of regional organisations – be they long-established, like the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, or more recently created, such as Pomerol Séduction – and the majority seem to fly solo in all things.
Channeling the spirit of Marx (Groucho, not Karl) it seems the most famous châteaux in Pomerol don’t wish to belong to any club that would (no doubt like to) have them as members.
That means there is only one place to taste the wines, and that is at the property. Twingo and I prepared ourselves – mentally and physically – for a long day (actually, more like a day and a half) of visits. I focused my mind, committing myself to my usual pre-Pomerol routine. I first entered a Zen-like state of Pomerol prolepsis, chanting the name of each of the properties I would later visit in turn, while offering up thanks to appropriate deities, namely Saint Peter, Dionysius and Robert Parker. I then washed and purified my palate with a rare Japanese ‘jade dew’ Gyokuro, the tender green leaves shaded from the sun for twenty days prior to harvest, the resulting infusion renowned for its savoury kelp-like flavour, and thus the perfect pre-Pomerol palate cleanser. I then rubbed a little Pomerol blue clay over my chest and cheeks (the cheeks of my face, I mean), before completing twenty squat thrusts, forty press ups and three hundred arm lifts, essential preparation for a day lifting the heavy ultra-Merlot tasting glasses with which I was sure to be confronted.
If you are reading the primeurs reports of other critics, check out their pre-Pomerol routine. If it is not declared, or if not up to this standard, then it is unlikely that their notes and scores have any credibility. You have been warned.
Twingo, meanwhile….well, Twingo just sat there. No commitment, you see. And I had such high hopes. Trying not to sound too disappointed in him, I hopped into the driver’s seat, and we set off for the day.
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