POMEROL Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux’s major appellations, with about 150 producers and approximately 740ha of vineyards. It is home to many small domaines, many of which The 2012 revision resulted in 18 Premiers Grands Crus Classés (4 ‘A’ and 14 ‘B’) and 64 Grands Crus Classés – 82 in total. Review is due in 2022, however, Châteaux Angelus, Cheval Blanc and Ausone have announced their withdrawal from the classification, leaving Château Pavie as the only Premier Grand Cru Classé A Keep 3 to 12 years.
THE GRAVES & PESSAC-LEOGNAN Graves is the region which
SAUTERNES & BARSAC Sauternes is where arguably the world’s finest sweet white wines are produced. The Sauternes appellation actually consists of five communes: Barsac, Preignac, Bommes, Fargues and Sauternes itself. Barsac is also an appellation in its own right. Located at the southern tip of the Graves, the land is hillier and enjoys a mesoclimate of evening autumn mists that linger until well into the following day, unless burnt off by warm sunshine. The mists are caused by the cool, spring-fed waters of the Ciron River meeting the warmer tidal Garonne, and the result is an ideal environment for the growth of botrytis cinerea. It feeds on the water in the ripe grapes, dehydrating them and leaving sweet, shrivelled fruit. Barsac is one of the communes of the Sauternes appellation. With marginally flatter land and soils of red sand and light gravels, the commune adjoins the northern boundary of the commune of Sauternes, separated by the Ciron River. There are just over 800ha under vine, producing nearly two million bottles in an average year. The châteaux can choose to sell their wine under either the Sauternes or the Barsac appellation, but stylistically the wines are arguably a little lighter in style than those of Sauternes. Keep 3 to 40 years.
ST-EMILION St-Emilion is one of Bordeaux’s largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St-Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St-Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux’s port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. St-Emilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux’s wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region’s finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation’s vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel. Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north- east of the region on the border with Pomerol. Atypically for St-Emilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Château Cheval Blanc. In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the ‘garagistes’, producers of deeply- concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices. The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines. St-Emilion was first officially classified in 1954, and it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012.
first established Bordeaux’s wine reputation. Its wines were exported to England as early as the 12th century and Samuel Pepys drank ‘Ho Bryan’ in London on 10th April, 1663. The names Graves is derived from ‘gravel’ and the best soils are gravel-rich, mixed with sand and occasionally clay. Graves is larger in areas than the Médoc but produces only half the amount of wine. The best wines of Graves were initially classified in 1953 with this classification being confirmed in 1959. Until 1987, this entire region, which runs immediately south of the city of Bordeaux until it reaches Sauternes, was known as the Graves but from the 1986 vintage a new communal district was created within Graves, based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city. Essentially this came about through pressure from Pessac-Léognan vignerons, who wished to disassociate themselves from growers with predominately sandy soils further south in Graves. Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the Classed Growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Château Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux’s southern urban sprawl. The climate is milder than to the north of the city, and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a rich and almost savoury character, with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruitier and suitable for earlier drinking. Keep 4 to 15 years.
BORDEAUX
produce little more than 1,000 cases per annum.
Both the topography and architecture of the region is unremarkable, but the style of the wines is most individual. The finest vineyards are planted on a seam of rich clay that extends across the gently-elevated plateau of Pomerol, which runs from the north-eastern boundary of St- Emilion. On the sides of the plateau, the soil becomes sandier and the wines lighter. For a long time Pomerol was regarded as the poor relation of St-Emilion, but the efforts of Jean-Pierre Moueix in the mid-20th century brought the wine to the attention of more export markets, where its fleshy, intense and muscular style found a willing audience, in turn leading to a surge in prices led by the demand for such limited quantities. There is one satellite region to the immediate north, Lalande-de-Pomerol whose wines are stylistically very similar, if sometimes lacking the finesse of its neighbour. There has never been a classification
BORDEAUX
of Pomerol wines. Keep 5 to 15 years.
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