Chateau Petrus

Château Pétrus is a wine estate in the French wine-growing region of Pomerol near Bordeaux. It produces the red wine Pétrus, one of the most prestigious and expensive wines in the world. It is a status symbol that is also coveted as an investment. In terms of wine quality, however, Pétrus is on a par with other, less famous and less expensive top wines from Pomerol such as Château Lafleur or Château L’Evangile and is even surpassed by them in some vintages.

The history

The estate has existed since the end of the 18th century, when the Arnaud family planted the vineyards. However, Château Pétrus was by no means always the leading estate in Pomerol. It was only in the second half of the 19th century that Pétrus was considered the number 3 in Pomerol behind Vieux Certan and Trotanoy. Wines from the estate won gold medals at the 1878 and 1898 World Exhibitions. The great era began in 1925, when Madame Edmond Loubat began to buy up parts of Pétrus until she became the sole owner in 1945. It was the 1945 “wine of the century” that finally established Pétrus among the eight great Bordeaux red wines. After Loubat’s death in 1961, his heirs gradually sold the estate to Moueix, who merged the best 4.5 hectares of the neighbouring Château Gazin with Pétrus to create the current vineyard area.

Site and soil

The sandy gravel soil of the Pomerol plateau

The vineyards are located in the so-called buttonhole of Pétrus. The Pomerol plateau consists primarily of gravel, with a subsoil of clay. Where Pétrus lies today was the highest elevation removed by erosion. As a result, the gravel-sand layer here is only just under one metre thick. This geological buttonhole covers 20 hectares, 11 of which are accounted for by Pétrus. This is the reason for the special position of Pétrus among the Pomerol wines. The ferruginous clay layer gives Pétrus its lush, round fullness, which always dominates over the tannins and is responsible for the truffle-like flavours with age.

Winery and products

A stone statue of St Peter the Apostle gives the small winery its name. The light blue window frames, which are unique to Château Pétrus in this region, are striking. The main building was completely renovated at the beginning of 2000.

The vineyard area of the estate is only 11.5 hectares, 95% of which is planted with Merlot and 5% with Cabernet Franc. The use of the grapes is decided after the harvest; in many vintages no Cabernet Franc is used, so that the Pétrus is a pure Merlot and not a cuvée. In the 1950s, the proportion of Cabernet Franc was still 30%; the vines are over 40 years old and the yield varies between 15 and 45 hectolitres per hectare. The wine is aged for 19 months in exclusively new barriques, it is not filtered and there is no second wine.

In years when the critics give the wines top marks, the bottle prices can be over several thousand euros; even in poorer years, a bottle rarely costs less than a few hundred euros. Only the wines from the Burgundy vineyard Domaine Romanée-Conti are occasionally even more expensive. There are lesser-known neighbouring estates in the region, such as La Conseillante and Lafleur, whose wines are often offered at a third of the price of Pétrus. The winery is owned by Jean-Pierre Moueix, who also owns other wineries in addition to Pétrus.

The annual production is only 25,000 to 30,000 bottles, which is why the wine is rare on the market due to the low production volume. Retailers often link the purchase of a bottle of Pétrus to other purchases, for example in 2002 Mövenpick offered Pétrus wines on subscription in Germany; a single bottle of Pétrus was only sold to the customer if other wines worth at least 4,000 euros were purchased.

Harvest and production

The Pétrus winery uses a selective, manual grape harvest. A parcel is not harvested all at once, but several times, so that only ripe grapes are picked. This cost-intensive method is now also used by other producers who produce top wines. It is also used in the production of noble sweet wines such as Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese in Germany and Austria, as well as for Ausbruch, Sauternes and Tokaj.

In addition to such methods, Château Pétrus also utilises unusual procedures; when it rains before the harvest begins, a low-flying helicopter is used to dry the vines.

The demand for quality means that in poorer years, not all the grapes are used for the estate’s own products, but are sold to other winegrowers.

There are numerous counterfeits of Pétrus wine in circulation, especially of sought-after Pétrus vintages such as 1990, 1989, 1982, 1970, 1961 and 1974. Since the end of the 1990s, the producer has engraved every bottle to certify its authenticity.

Professional ratings

Robert Parker (100) When I asked winemaker Olivier Berrouet about his biggest challenges in 2015, he replied: “Our biggest challenge is to avoid all temptations in the vineyard and in the cellar. You can go too far. If you go too far in our job, you can’t go back. Small steps are best.” His comments eloquently explain the immense pressure that comes with handling a seemingly unpressurised vintage like 2015 in Pomerol. But if the devil is in all the many details associated with the pursuit of wine perfection, then it is this incredibly talented young winemaker who has the devil by the horns.

Vinous (98)

The 2015 Petrus has a fresh, detailed yet quite subtle bouquet of black fruits, pencil box, smoke and slightly tarry flavours – very incisive and classy. On the palate, it is medium-bodied with fine tannins and linear and quite austere in style, which might explain why I deducted a point compared to my rating in January 2018. But it gently builds in intensity to a grippy, graphite-soaked finish with the subtle Japanese seaweed tincture I noted earlier. Classic in style, this wine will benefit from several years in bottle. Excellent. Blind tasting at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Jeb Dunnuck (99) The 2015 Chateau Petrus is undoubtedly one of the jewels of the vintage and will likely earn a perfect score in another decade. That said, the sexy, exotic nature of the vintage takes centre stage, offering a tremendous perfume of blackcurrants, cherry liqueur, Asian spices and incense. As always, this beauty is made from 100% Merlot, which was aged in 50% new wood in 2015. A wine that develops beautifully with time in the glass, it has lovely mid-palate depth, sweet, sweet tannins and a lush but weightless texture that has to be tasted to be believed. Tuck the bottles away for 4-5 years, consider yourself lucky and enjoy them over the following 3-4 decades.

Rene Gabriel (20)

Rene Gabriel rates this wine with 20/20 points.