Chateau Vieux Maillet Pomerol 2016

Secretum sub malleo est, the secret is under the mallet !

This is the motto at Château VIEUX MAILLET, located in a placed called Maillet in the commune of Pomerol !

This is because this wine is still a secret. It is being discreetly shared in France by more and more wine lovers,and in the rest of Europe and the world by discerning merchants and prestigious tables.

They all agree that Vieux Maillet has the qualities of a Grand Vin de Pomerol at an accessible price.

Pomerol is an appellation, recognised in 1936, with only 785 hectares of vines, one of the smallest in the Bordeaux region, bounded by the City of Libourne to the west and by the Saint-Emilion appellation to the east, by the Lalande de Pomerol appellation to the north. And this appellation is often described as the most Burgundian in Bordeaux.

Contrary to certain rare prestigious properties of the appellation, all in one piece, Vieux Maillet brings together parcels of vines on various geographical points such as altitudes of the A.O.C Pomerol.

In 2004 Château Vieux Maillet's surface area under vines was less than 2 hectares. Today, its land base is 8 hectares and 65 acres. The first original block of the property is located around the buildings. The second at a place called Cantereau.

This allows a greater production of Grand Vin but above all to be able to play with its plots according to the climate of each vintage, with a blend of Merlot with a real dose of Cabernet, Franc and Sauvignon. Merlot now represents 85% of the blend, Cabernet Franc 10% and Cabernet Sauvignon 5%. The soils are clayey, calcareous, and on gravel.

There is a mini plot of Merlot and Cabernet Franc at a place called Lavaud on the Néac plateau, a town at the top of the Lalande de Pomerol appellation. On clay-limestone soil at an altitude higher than that of the AOC Pomerol. A second wine is made from a blend of 90% Merlot with the addition of 10% Cabernet Franc.

The terroirs that give this Pomerol from Château Vieux Maillet embody all the diversity of the appellation, with plots of soil where pebbles, clayey softness, iron dross or even deep gravel alternate. From this diversity, Merlot and Cabernet Franc – 90% of the first, 10% of the second – derive complexity and richness . The vines will be 40 years old within the decade and have yields varying between 35 and 45 hl/ha depending on the vintage.

After manual harvesting, the harvest is sorted twice, by hand and then by machine, before vinification in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats and aging for 14 to 16 months in oak barrels comprising 60% new wood .

The result is a Pomerol that elegantly expresses its many terroirs, with silky tannins , bright fruit and a complex finish . It is a wine made for long aging so that the complementarity of the soils that make it up is expressed. Bernard Burtschy's selection reflects this strong potential, with all the vintages since 2005.

Awards

James Suckling 95 pts

Falstaff 93 pts

VINOUS 93 pts

Bettane & Desseauve 92 pts

Wine Spectator 92 pts

Jancis ROBINSON 16.5/20

VIVINO 4.2