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Wine Description
The Story
A lovely estate on the west side of Pomerol, Château La Grave dates back to the early 19th century. As indicated by its name, the soil is almost pure pebble. The vineyard marks the beginning of the one mile long gravelly strip which crosses the plateau of Pomerol, then Cheval Blanc and ends at Château Figeac. La Grave could be considered the equivalent of a third growth in the Médoc and ranks amongst the top Pomerol. His very first personal acquisition, Christian Moueix purchased the estate in June 1971 and gave a great deal of attention to the restoration of the château, cellar, and vineyard. Today, as part of the Ets Jean-Pierre Moueix properties, it receives the same meticulous care as the other family’s top châteaux.
The illustrious and famed Bordeaux negociant firm of Ets. Jean-Pierre Moueix was founded in 1937 and holds exclusive rights to sell and manage some of the greatest vineyards on the right bank of Bordeaux. The properties of Jean-Pierre Moueix can be found in the appellations of Pomerol and St. Emilion with each estate being carefully selected by Christian Moueix. The Moueix family have defined a style of winemaking distinguished by integrity and total devotion to the expression of each individual vineyard.
VARIETAL COMPOSITION
85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc
WINEMAKING
A strict and merciless parcel selection precedes the harvest which is conducted entirely by hand, vine by vine, and often bunch by bunch. A sorting table is used systematically to assure a selection of only the healthiest grapes. Vatting and maceration are conducted according the needs of the vintage; racking into barrels is immediate following fermentations in a minimum of 50% new oak. The wines are clarified (racked) by hand every three months and remain in barrel for 18 months before bottling.
TASTING NOTES
Red garnet color with a dark hue. The nose is discrete at the beginning and becomes intense with a nice purity after it opens up. Small red fruits, fresh cherry and currant aromas are very pleasant. The palate is already very smooth and silky with round tannins perfect for a great evolution in the bottle.
Vintage 2020
In Bordeaux, the heat resulted in early flowering. Also, this led to an early harvest after a very hot summer. As a starting point, there is great maturity in the grapes, and one can expect a more opulent vintage than in the last few years.
The summer this year has been the warmest since 1959, yet the rain has fallen at the right times during the growing season. The harvest took place two weeks before the norm and will yield grapes with high potential alcohol and the lowest acidity since the 2003 vintage. As they say in Bordeaux: "It has been a good and extreme growing season which hopefully also produces great wines".
