A powerful trend-setter, pioneering in its early adoption of biodynamics, over the last twenty years Fifth Growth Pontet-Canet has soared into the league of Super Seconds. Alfred Tesseron and Estate Director Jean-Michel Comme have unlocked the potential of this chateau whose vineyards abut those of Mouton-Rothschild, and the wines of Pontet-Canet demand serious respect, and time in your cellar.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux
An enormous region producing large amounts of quality wine that was once the most favoured in these islands. Now, the top 3% of producers are the most privileged in the world, while the rest, as the market has expanded, have somewhat ironically lost market share to the sweetened fruit juice imported from other parts of the world. Affinity with Bordeaux partly stems from our historical ownership of it, while the Scots started drinking it to support later French owners in their wars against the English.
- Chateau PotensacEven when the family already owns Leoville-Las Cases it does no harm to marry a lady with a very nice estate of her own and that is what Paul Delon did. It is quite a large property and like many at this end of the Medoc has gradually been planting more Merlot to take into account proper surveys of the land, which does have extensive clay deposits. Yields here are low by Medoc standards at a maximum of 35hl/ha and tannins are kept suave by a policy of cooler fermentation while quality is assured by the fact that almost half the production is diverted into the second wine.
- Chateau Rauzan Segla
Rauzan-Ségla is one of the finest properties in Bordeaux, occupying great terroir in Margaux, comfortably at the top of the table of Second Growths, and currently enjoying one of the great periods of its history after twenty years of investment and very focussed management. It emerged in the seventeenth century at the same time as many of the other great estates of the Médoc were taking shape. Inheritance divided the Rauzan estate into Rauzan-Ségla and the lesser Rauzan-Gassies in the early eighteenth century. By the end of the century, Rauzan-Ségla was famous worldwide.
- Chateau SenejacNow biodynamic, Chateau Senejac has gone from being a lightish luncheon claret to a lower yielding, deeper and fuller wine that much better demonstrates its inland terroir and the high proportion of the Cabernet grapes here. The improvements wrought by Alfred Tesseron and the team from cult Chateau Pontet-Canet have really changed the vineyard and therefore the wines for the better and for pure drinking pleasure this is a buy.
- Chateau SiranSiran has been in the Miailhe family for over 150 years and has a distinct grape mix, with high proportions of both Merlot and Petit Verdot and less than half Cabernet Sauvignon. This gives the wine real stuffing, moderated these days by a relatively short spell of just over a year in oak, 40% new, in order to allow the purity and finesse of the wine through. Arguably 2004 was a turning point for the property, when Denis Dubourdieu was appointed as the consultant and quality has improved from an already high level since then. /CW 20/05/10
- Chateau Sociando-MalletWhen Jean Gautreau bought Sociando-Mallet in 1969 he must have been affected by the romance of the summer of love and the `evenements` at the time, for the property had little in its favour but potential. Ant that`s potential in an estate agent sense. The area down to vines was a rump of the land and the buildings were virtual wrecks.
- Chateau Talbot
The name Chateau Talbot evokes a poignant moment in Bordeaux history. In the 15th century, the estate was the property of one John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and Governor of Acquitaine. He led the English charge at the 1453 Battle of Castillon, in what would prove to be the final engagement of the Hundred Years’ War. The charge failed, and Talbot was finished off by a French soldier with a battleaxe. After 340 years of English rule, Bordeaux was back in the hands of the French, there to remain. But the French seemed to grudgingly admire him, and Chateau Talbot retains his name to this day.
- Chateau Troplong Mondot
In 2017, a change in ownership at St-Emilion property Troplong Mondot was accompanied by a dramatic change in style. With a thick layer of clay laid over the limestone, Troplong has a naturally powerful terroir. The previous owners had leaned into that, and made a wine marked by a ripe, extracted style. But new winemaker Aymeric de Gironde, aided by consultant Thomas Duclos, has turned that around, and since 2017 the style here has been to rein in the natural power of the terroir for a more elegant, sculpted style. Troplong is still not shy, but it is much more balanced.
- Domaine de ChevalierNow you see it, now you don`t. Vineyard or pine plantation? However since the late 1860s this has been a wine estate and in both red and white wines a hugely successful one. There is one fly in the ointment though, like Volnay and Pommard, their particular micro-climate seems to attract incredibly localised hailstorms. Not desirable. Otherwise the estate fashions its highly praised wines from, for the reds, a 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc mix, though obviously the proportions vary from vintage to vintage.
- Domaine de l`Eglise
While it’s odd (though not unique) to find a winery in Bordeaux referred to as a ‘domaine’, the full official name of this property is actually Chateau du Domaine de l’Eglise. Either way, it’s the oldest property in Pomerol, with records that date it to 1589, when it was a hospice for lepers. The church it was named after no longer stands. When the Casteja family of wine merchants acquired Domaine de l’Eglise in 1973, that was the first time it had changed hands since the Revolution. The vines are well-sited, some next to the chateau, some on the plateau around Clinet and L’Eglise-Clinet.
- L`Hetre
The Cotes de Castillon lies on the eastward extension of the plateau underpinning St-Emilion. The soils in the area are mixed, but the high concentration of clay and limestone around what was then called Chateau Goubau caught the eye of none other than Jacques Thienpont, owner of Le Pin and L’If. ‘These soils keeps the roots of the vines cool, so the wines are fresh,’ says Jacques. When Chateau Goubau came up for sale, Jacques and his sister Anne de Raeymaeker pounced, and purchased it. Their first vintage was 2016. He named it L`Hetre, continuing his `family tree` motif.
- L`If
In 2010, Jacques Thienpont, the owner of Le Pin (the ultimate small estate with a big reputation) set out on a new venture, in St-Emilion. He acquired a small property called Chateau Haut-Plantey and set about re-building it from the bottom up. The soils had been treated with weedkiller and needed to be nurtured back to life. He uprooted the vines in three of the original five hectares, and replanted. He was able to acquire a couple of other plots to add in, which he thought would bring complementary qualities.
- Latour-Martillac
It’s got a 12th century tower, and it’s near the village of Martillac – the name of this Pessac property is virtually the address. This being Pessac, there’s both a red and white wine. The red vines are mostly planted across the gravelly soils of the Martillac plateau, while the white vines and the Merlot are planted across a clay-limestone outcrop. In reds, the vineyard is split 55% Cabernet Sauvignon/40% Merlot/5% Petit Verdot, and in whites 60% Sauvignon Blanc/40% Semillon. There are some venerable Semillon vines that date all the way back to 1884.
- Le Pin
Today, Le Pin is such a well-established member of the pantheon of the world’s greatest wines, it’s interesting to recall that it wasn’t always thus. Under its previous owner, a Mme F Loubie, the wine had been blended with lesser wines and sold exclusively in Belgium as Clos du Pin. Mme Loubie wanted to sell it to Leon Thienpont so that he could join it with Vieux Chateau Certan but, with six children to support, there was no way Leon could afford it. In 1978, Mme Loubie died.
