Château Gazin 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

Contrary to what has been written, this is not a great vintage, or at any rate not a vintage for cellaring. It is good to drink today... before it is past its best. That is not entirely the case for this Gazin, which was vinified very gently, with controlled extractions, then a moderate ageing in new barrels (no more than 40% new oak). Wines for which this was not done today offer products that are dry, alcoholic and marked by oak... This 2003 Gazin won the Grappe d'Or of the Guide Hachette and remains, in the commentators' view, the best reference in its category for 2003. The Gazin 2003 shows a color of medium intensity. Its olfactory notes lean more toward red fruit. Its acidity is fairly present, all the more so as its tannic structure is medium and lacks a little maturity. But the wine is balanced and can be enjoyed today after 2 to 3 hours of decanting intended to soften it. Its lifespan is

Blend of the 2003 vintage

Figures from the 2003 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 35 yrsVine age
• 100,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Alcoholic fermentations take place in small concrete vats, variety by variety and plot by plot, followed by a period of maceration of the juice with the skins, for two to three weeks.

Ageing

In barrel for 18 months (50% renewed each year)

Terroir

The vineyard of Château Gazin covers an area of 26 ha in a single block, situated on the high terrace of the Pomerol terroir. The terroir of Château Gazin is made up of Günzian gravels at the surface and, in the subsoil, blue and green clays containing iron oxides (crasse de fer). These clays (smectites) provide the vine with a regular and moderate supply of water, a characteristic of the great terroirs. The clay-gravel subsoil of the Pomerol plateau makes up the essential part of Château Gazin’s terroir. The vineyard is planted with 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is 35 years.