Château L'Évangile 2014

Critic scores

• Wine Advocate95
• Wine Enthusiast94
• Jeb Dunnuck93
• Wine Spectator93
• Vinous91

The 2014 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 89/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: The Indian summer served the cabernet francs better than the merlots: sound, fresh wines, without great depth.

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

A black color, deep, with violet highlights. A very intense nose of black berries (morello cherry, blackcurrant) with

fresh notes of mocha and toasted bread. The attack on the palate is powerful, dense and structured. The palate is

silky, with a powerful, balanced tannic structure. The finish is dense and very velvety, thanks to the

well-ripened, enveloped tannins of this very successful vintage.

Blend of the 2014 vintage

Figures from the 2014 sheet

• 60,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Alcoholic fermentation took place in temperature-controlled concrete vats, over a period

of around 10 days. Pump-over and maceration times were adapted to each vat, according to the

terroir and the ripeness of the tannins. Total maceration time averaged 27 days for the

merlot and 28 days for the cabernet franc.

Ageing

Following maceration, the wine was barreled in new oak

casks for malolactic fermentation and 18 months of ageing.

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.