Pomerol Red Wines
Situated between our own Fronsac region and St Emilion, Pomerol is a bit of an enigma. The terrain is frankly rather boring, gone are the rolling hills of St Emilion and Fronsac replaced by flat, rather indistinct gravel plains. Most of the chateaux are plain as well, certainly nothing to compare with the magnificent castles to be found across the river in Pauillac and Margaux. Also whilst St Emilion is centred upon the majestic eponymous village the centre of Pomerol is non-descript to say the least with a church and a village school but nothing else to say it is one of the worlds great wine regions – there is not even a wine shop!
What is more Pomerol is a bit of an upstart, a new kid on the block - at least in Bordeaux terms. Largely unheard of until after the Second World War the region has burst onto the scene over the past 70/80 years, largely on the coat tails of the regions most famous wine - Petrus. This small (17 acre) vineyard produces one of the world’s most expensive wines with prices starting at £2,500 and rising to over £30,000 per bottle! This is the wine worlds equivalent of Kobe beef, the grapes are picked literally one at a time, they are picked in one afternoon (the morning dew needs to have evaporated) and they are sorted by hand one grape at a time.
Whether it is worth the money is a moot point, what it has done is put the region at the pinnacle of the Bordeaux wine region. This is a double-edged sword however…. The great wines are simply fabulous, and are constantly pushing to improve on perfection; but honestly to most drinkers the difference does not justify the price. At the other end of the market there are, sadly, a number of wines that trade on their appellation and are consequently over-priced. The key therefore is to find wines at the sweet spot of quality and price. This does exist but it takes a lot of trial, and sadly too much error, to find it. Luckily for you, we here at Bordeauxwine.fr have taken it as our mission to make these errors for you; what a sacrifice!
What can be said is that the best of these merlot-dominated wines are all delightfully rich and smooth (think Dairy Milk chocolate); they are without doubt a match for anything in the world. They are at their best after at least 5 years in bottle and go beautifully with red meats, poultry and cheese. There is probably nothing finer than roast rib of beef and a bottle of Pomerol (apart possibly from a bottle of Du Faure Haut Normand….).