Château Gazin 2011

The 2011 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 86/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A warm spring followed by a wet summer gave classic wines, best drunk relatively young.

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

The wine's color is a dark, brilliant Bordeaux-red. 2011 offers powerful, tannic notes, with aromas of red and black fruit: morello cherry and blackberry, blackcurrant, a slightly toasted, winy, peppery nose, with a touch of caramel. On the palate the wine proves silky, fairly broad, of good length, and shows a finish that is tannic, certainly, but without aggression, one that will soften with time. It can be drunk from today, after one or two hours of decanting, but will gain from waiting 5 years (2018). Its longevity should not exceed about fifteen years.

Blend of the 2011 vintage

Figures from the 2011 sheet

• 14 % vol.Alcohol
• 39 hl/haYield
• 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

Château Gazin 2024 will benefit from ageing

of 14 to 16 months in barrel, comprising 50% new

barrels and 50% once-used barrels.

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.