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Wine Description
The Story
Since 1983, Denis Durantou has been at the helm of this historic estate. He has quietly performed something of a revolution, introducing a host of innovations and bringing his wine-making philosophy to one of the greatest terroirs in Bordeaux. The 4.5 hectares used for the grand vin are situated next to the church in Pomerol on gravel and clay soils. A further 1.5 hectares of on sandy soils account for the excellent Petite Eglise.
Denis’ wines receive many accolades, all richly deserved. The grand vin is consistently amongst the best wines of the vintage; they are typically perfumed, nuanced and posses the structure to age gracefully for many decades.
Vintage 1999
Bordeaux 1999/ The last year of the millennium was strange. The entire Bordeaux region had very good water reserves after a wet winter. Then, budburst in May under warm temperatures indicated a huge harvest. The weather became even warmer towards summer with some humidity. After early flowering at the end of May, storms made it difficult to pick berries. Then the heat wave followed with humidity and mildew problems in August. The weather changed to ideally dry and sunny well before harvest. Unfortunately, the harvest was largely spoiled by violent autumn storms with hail destroying the harvest of many vineyards on the Right Bank. The quality of the grapes in all regions remains at the same level despite the storms.
This vintage offered more than a hundred wines which are very pleasant at the moment. On the other hand, the fluctuation in quality between the wines was surprising.