Château L'Évangile 2003

The 2003 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 87/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: The heatwave pushed the merlots into overripeness: rich, jammy wines, fresher on the clays of Pomerol.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pomerol. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

This vintage is charming, fresh and delicate. The structure is solid, with elegant, solid tannins. Notes of fig and violet accompany the silky structure of this wine built for ageing.

Blend of the 2003 vintage

Figures from the 2003 sheet

• 12 % vol.Alcohol
• 35 yrsVine age
• 60,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

A close association of tradition and modern winemaking methods guides every operation in the cellar. Fermentation in vat is carried out according to the classic method of pump-overs and controlled macerations (with frequent tastings).

Ageing

Once fermentation is complete, the wine is placed in oak casks where it is aged for 18 months.

Terroir

It is through one of those mysteries of geology that, in the south-east of the Pomerol plateau, a curious accident brings a long seam of gravel to the surface. Three vineyards, l’Évangile among them, share this rare soil. The estate does indeed occupy a wholly privileged position: it is bordered to the north by the vines of Château Pétrus and is separated to the south from Cheval Blanc in Saint-Émilion only by a minor road. The area covers 16 hectares of sandy-clay soil with pure gravels and a subsoil marked by crasse de fer (iron pan). The grape varieties grown are Merlot (80%), which brings fruit, body and flesh and gives the wine its inimitable suppleness, and Bouchet, the local name for Cabernet Franc (20%), for finesse and structure.