Château Gazin 2004

The 2004 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 88/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: High yields and a dry back end to the season gave an honest, straightforward vintage, unremarkable but flawless.

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 shows a deep Bordeaux-red color. On the palate, the wine offers buttery notes of plum, and red and black fruit. One already finds a few tertiary notes typical of Pomerol here: truffle, undergrowth, pâté. This 2004 is nicely fleshy, with melded tannins. Balanced and fairly long on the palate, it shows a soft, already silky finish. Lacking the structure of the 2005 and 2009, it is ready to drink today after light decanting. Its lifespan will be around 10 years.

Blend of the 2004 vintage

Figures from the 2004 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.