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Wine Description
The Story
Château Petit-Village is a jewel set in the highest part of the magnificent terroir of the Pomerol plateau, on deep gravel and clay soils with a ferrous base in the heart of the appellation.
The unique style of Château Petit-Village. It expresses the successful blend of the Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon grape varieties. Thanks to the Merlot and the Cabernet Franc, the wine offers aromatic complexity and a long, delicate finish. The Cabernet Sauvignon brings depth and a texture ideally suited for ageing.
Tasting tips: we recommend that you decant the wine before serving to enable it to fully express the range of its aromas. Best enjoyed between 17° and 19° C.
The past few years have seen major renovations and changes at Château Petit-Village. Significant replanting of the vineyard had occurred, with the long term aim of maximising quality. Short term this means that quantities of Château Petit-Village are lower than before, production of the Grand Vin coming only from the best old vine production. The winery has been completely rebuilt, with a new vatroom of concrete vats of varying sizes designed exactly for our terroir, that enable us to vinify each small parcel separately.
These changes have begun to bear fruit, with the significant improvement in quality of the wines of the property in recent years already remarked upon by the world’s wine press.
The wines of Château Petit-Village are fresh and balanced with remarkable intensity of fruit and all the incomparable richness and finesse of the greatest wines of Pomerol.
Vintage 2019
BORDEAUX VINTAGE 2019
When I visited Bordeaux in early March, Corona was a threat on the horizon and France was more concerned about an air traffic control strike. However, I was traveling to Bordeaux and had the chance to get a first taste of the 2019 vintage. I was looking forward to the en primeur tastings which were scheduled for March 26, 2020 but the tastings were canceled mid-March . I immediately contacted the different associations and wineries in Bordeaux and asked for samples.
The result was a small number of wines that arrived in Essen before France's lockdown made shipping rather difficult. These first samples of the 2019 vintage were tasted in impeccable conditions to ensure a fair and equal evaluation of all qualities. In fact, the samples proved that the opinion of certain Bordeaux personalities was right. Bruno-Eugène Borie of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou sees 2019 in line with the excellent vintages of 2016, 2010, 2009 and 2005.
Henri Lurton talks about his best vintage, as well as 2016, that he has ever vinified at Château Brane-Cantenac. Philippe Dhalluin of Château Mouton-Rothschild believes that the vintage is rich and abundant in quality and also in quantity. After a few smaller harvests, they returned to average production.
Emmanuel Cruse of Château d’Issan sees that 2019 has a lot in common with 2016 while preserving more freshness. It is a very good vintage but appearing at a very difficult time on the market. In fact, the start of this vintage was very positive. Soils like chalk and clay retained enough precipitation during the winter. Vineyards on these water-retaining soils had a huge advantage in the future growing period. With the exception of a wet June, the vintage benefited from a rather dry climatic situation, which made it possible to largely avoid diseases in the vines. No chance for powdery or downy mildew. Even the heat waves did not really harm the vines as the rain set in, always at the last moment but always early enough to avoid massive water stress and a slowdown in maturity. The late physiological maturity brought a lot of alcohol, but the wines show more freshness than in previous years.
Fabien Teitgen, Winemaker from Smith-Haut-Lafitte, associates this freshness with the good acidity “due to the cool night temperatures during the ripening period”. This fact is also good news for white wines. “They are the big surprise,” confides Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier.
At Château Coutet de Barsac, Philippe and Aline Baly harvested in three passes totaling 19 days of harvest. They judge the conditions to be rather ideal: “These climatic conditions generated a harvest whose quality is undeniably present. » The same samples made their way to Essen and I tasted them. More samples are being announced and will hopefully arrive during the current week. There will be a weekly update of my tasting notes, whenever the samples arrive.
Unfortunately, 2019 is coming in a difficult time, the Corona virus is scaring the world and making business more and more difficult. Commercial bays and new customs duties create a difficult environment for this vintage. However, we must not forget one thing: magnificent 2019s await us, wines with aging potential and charm that will survive all crises.
