Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Attractive slate and stony aromas here with a sense of depth and strongly terroir-focused style. Abundant ripe dark fruit with a suave, plush and very deep-set palate. Long, classic, seamless and powerful Pomerol. Try from 2023.
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Decanter
The well-extracted, polished, juicy black cherry and damson fruits are full of personality and elegance. This wine is nicely constructed, well held together and very good quality.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Château Petit-Village checks in as 77% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon brought up in 60% new French oak. This deeper ruby/plum-colored effort offers a classic bouquet of red and black currants, damp earth, violets, and forest floor. It's supple, beautifully textured, and seamless on the palate, with integrated acidity and fine tannins. It's a beautiful wine to drink over the coming 10-15 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Petit Village is closed on the nose, opening to earthy aromas and preserved plums, black cherry compote, chocolate and tobacco notes with hints of roses. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm, grainy and lively with earthy/savory layers on the finish. This needs time, but it should reward the patient!
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Wine Spectator
This has a pure core of ripe cherry, raspberry and cassis flavors, with polished structure and light anise and rooibos tea notes gilding the finish. Delivers a flash of mineral at the very end. Not a big boy, but there is no overextraction or overt wood here. Rather, this is built with a deft hand. Best from 2022 through 2032.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.