Pomerol AOC
Pomerol is a French wine-growing commune and Appellation d'origine contrôlée within the Libournais in Bordeaux. The wine produced here is predominately from Merlot with Cabernet Franc playing a supporting role. Unlike most other Bordeaux communes, there is no real village of Pomerol, although there is a church. The houses are set among the vineyards.
The region was recognized as a distinct wine region apart from Saint-Émilion and the greater Libournais region by the French government in 1923 and was granted AOC status in 1936 as part of the first wave of AOC establishments by the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité. While it is now one of the most prestigious of the Bordeaux AOCs, this situation is relatively recent, dating to the second half of the twentieth century, which is often given as one of the reasons why Pomerol is not included in any of the Bordeaux classifications.
Pomerol is the smallest of the major fine wine regions in Bordeaux, covering an area that is roughly in size. It is roughly one-seventh of the size of its much larger Right Bank neighbor Saint-Émilion AOC and is on par with the smallest Left Bank commune of Saint-Julien AOC in the Médoc. In 1998, there were of grape vines planted within the AOC boundaries producing or 400,733 cases of wine. In 2003 there were 150 declared producers in Pomerol harvesting and producing a year average of of wine. Almost all the wine is estate-bottled. Unlike other French wine regions, such as Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, there are no co-operatives currently operating in Pomerol. By 2007, the area planted to grape vine had risen slightly to. In 2009, there were 140 declared producers in Pomerol, have an average surface area of and the vineyard of the "Pomerol" appellation covers for an average production of per year.
While many Pomerol wines now fetch very high prices at wine auctions and in the private market on a par with the most highly rated classified growths of Bordeaux, there is no official classification of Pomerol wine. However, the region does contain one property widely held to be equivalent to premier cru: Château Pétrus.
History
The Pomerol region, and its northern border, the Barbanne river was historically considered the frontier boundary between the north where people spoke the Langues d'oïl and the south where they spoke the Langue d'oc. Though it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when grapes were first planted in the Pomerol region there is enough evidence to show that viticulture was present in the area during the time of the Romans. Similarly there is uncertainty as to the origins of the name "Pomerol", although there is some speculation that it stems from the Latin word poma which refers to a fruit bearing seeds and is the origin of the French word pomme, meaning apple. This theory is supported by the region's long history of polyculture with many other crops, particularly fruits and grains, being cultivated in the area long before viticulture became a primary focus.In 1270, the English founded the city of Libourne, which may have brought the vineyards of Pomerol to wider attention. However, as with most of Bordeaux, the wines of Pomerol were of lesser repute than the wines from further up the Garonne in the present-day departments of Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot-et-Garonne. The area's location along the major pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain also attracted the interest of the Knights Hospitaller, returning Crusaders who set up several hostels and hospitals in the region. Several of these establishments, such as the Gazin hospital, which was first mentioned in 1288, are now the sites of modern vineyards and wineries such as Château Gazin. The Knights remained in the region for several centuries, even helping to replant vineyards that were devastated by Hundred Years War.
Transition from white wines to red
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch traders wielded considerable influence over the wine trade in the Bordeaux market. While the Dutch were most notable for draining the marshes of Médoc and paving the way for viticulture in the land north of Graves, they offered the communes of the right bank of the Dordogne a market in Northern Europe bypassing the grip that the port of Bordeaux had on the English market. However, the taste of the Dutch and these northern markets leant towards white wines and it was white grape varieties that were most widely planted in Pomerol during this period.The transition to red grape varieties was slow. Plantings of Cabernet Franc in the Pomerol area were recorded, under the names Vidure and Bidure, as early as the 16th century but Merlot does not appear to have been introduced to the area until a couple of hundred years later. In 1760, Louis-Léonard Fontémong, a Libournais négociant, planted what appears to be the first documented instance of Merlot in the region, in a vineyard that is now part of Château Rouget. However, white wine grapes continued to dominate the vineyards of Pomerol until the late 19th century when the higher prices of red clarets and the waning Dutch influence made red wine production more enticing. When the region received its full AOC status in 1936, the AOC regulation specifically outlawed the plantings of any white grape varieties in Pomerol.
Even after its complete transformation into a red wine region, the reputation of Pomerol still lagged far behind that of the Médoc. A 1943 comparative price list commissioned by the Vichy government listed Pétrus only at the level of a mid-tier Second Growth from the Médoc with the next highest rated Pomerol estates, Vieux Château Certan and Château La Conseillante commanding prices in line with Third Growth estates like Château Giscours and Château La Lagune.
Moueix family and ascent to prominence
and his family are widely credited with putting Pomerol "on the international map". Born in the central French department of Corrèze, Moueix moved to the Bordeaux region with his family and first attempted to open up a négociant house in the city of Bordeaux itself. However, he found that market heavily saturated, so he moved across the river to the Libournais region and opened up a négociant house in the city of Libourne in 1937. In 1945, Moueix acquired exclusive selling rights to Château Pétrus.At first, Moueix mostly traded with Pomerol's traditional market in Belgium. However, as Moueix began buying and leasing properties and exhibiting more creative control over the winemaking process he began looking to expand Pomerol's recognition on the world market. In 1953 he purchased Château Trotanoy and Château La Fleur-Pétrus followed by Château Lagrange in 1959. Then in 1964, Moueix acquired majority share in Pétrus and fully took over the supervision and direction of winemaking.
The 1982 vintage was a watershed moment for Moueix and Pomerol. Aided by a strong US dollar and the glowing reviews of American wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr., the region gained a strong foothold in the American market and helped propel estates like Pétrus to unprecedented prices on the auction circuit.
In addition to Pétrus, the Moueix family also owns Château La Grave, Château Latour à Pomerol and Château Hosanna.
Climate and viticulture
While the climate of Pomerol is broadly similar to the rest of Bordeaux in the maritime influence, the region's distance from the sea and the Gironde estuary make the climate distinctly more continental than that of the Médoc. This means that Pomerol sees more diurnal temperature variation during the growing season, between daytime highs and evening lows. Also while the region experiences more rainfall during the spring there is overall significantly less rainfall during the summer months after veraison.Nevertheless, the threat of harvest rains is still present in Pomerol, especially for winemakers employing the philosophy of "extended hanging" time in order to prolong the ripening process. When rain does occur it can pose a significant risk of grey rot, especially for Merlot planted on heavy clay soils which tend to retain water. While some wineries, such as Château Pétrus, can afford the labor costs of covering their vineyard in plastic sheeting to prevent water from soaking down into the roots and employ helicopters to hover over their vineyards, generating wind to dry out the grapes, not every property can take such measures.
While very hot vintages can create problems of over-ripeness in Merlot, the Pomerol region tend to fare better during cooler years. The main viticultural hazards are spring time frosts, which can occur frequently in the Pomerol region and disrupt entire vintages.
Geography
Pomerol lies immediately to the east and north-east of Libourne. Unlike most of the most prestigious communes of Bordeaux, it has no direct river access, being separated from the Dordogne to the south by the town and by Saint-Émilion, which lies to the south-east. To the north-east, across a stream called la Barbanne Rau lies Lalande-de-Pomerol. It stands on a gravel bank ; towards the south and west, the soil is more sandy, while towards the north and east, it tends to clay. The sub-soil is dark packed clay, with a high iron content. The terrain is relatively flat with slight undulating slopes that fall from a height of above sea level over a course of to around.Most of the more highly rated estates in Pomerol are located in the eastern half the region, up to the border of Saint-Émilion where the vineyards of the Premier Grand Cru Classé estate of Château Cheval Blanc can often be seen from the Pomerol estates themselves. The southernmost reaches of Pomerol extend past the hamlet of Catusseau whereas just north of the hamlet the soil contains some of the finest gravel particles in the region. In the northeast is the hamlet of Maillet which borders the AOCs of Lalande-de-Pomerol, Montagne-Saint-Émilion and Saint-Émilion with the road running through the hamlet itself being the official boundary between Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. This has led to some legal issues as a few vineyards which are technically within the borders of Saint-Émilion but extend into Pomerol have had to be granted "honorary citizenship of Pomerol".