Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Tour and Tasting at Château Beauregard, Appellation Pomerol – Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016, France

Picture:The ombiasy Tour Group at Château Beauregard, Appellation Pomerol

In Pomerol, we visited 2 estates: Château Le Bon Pasteur, were we had lunch with Dany Rolland, and Château Beauregard, were we spent the morning, touring the estate and tasting 4 different wines going back as far as 1989.

Roxane Gomez was our host. We also had a chance to meet Guillaume Fredoux, the Technical Director of Château Beauregard, and to talk about the upcoming harvest and other issues we were interested in.

Pictures: Tour at Château Beauregard

Pomerol

Pomerol is remarkable for being unremarkable. It is not a long-established area. There are no beautiful chateaux. There is no real town center, just roads connecting the lands and small, farmhouse style wineries. Pomerol has no classification system. With 800 hectares, it is a small area, with small domains. By contrast: The vineyards of St. Emilion cover more than 5000 hectares; the production of Petrus is just 10% of that of Lafite.

Nevertheless, Pomerol has managed to earn itself a place among the region's most-respected names. The list of the Pomerol’s best properties includes Le Pin, one of the precursors of the Garagistes style, Petrus and Lafleur, with all three of them regarded as "hors classe" growths, and: Eglise-Clinet, Trotanoy, Vieux-Château Certan, L´Evangile, Certan-de-May, La Fleur-Pétrus, Clinet, Bon Pasteur, Le Gay, Rouget, Clos l'Eglise, Nénin, Petit-Village, Lagrange and Gazin. Pomerol, with the wines of Chateau Petrus and Chateau Le Pen, now commands higher prices than those of the long-established Medoc.

Picture: Château Petrus

Pomerol has the highest Merlot share in Bordeaux, with Merlot accounting for 80% and Cabernet Franc for the rest. Vines are old and yields are extremely low.

Over the centuries, Pomerol had always been in the shadow of Medoc, Graves and even St. Emilion. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, things changed when Belgians and primarily Dutchmen were more and more interested in the red Pomerol wines. It was not until the 1950s that British merchants woke up to the wines and began to import them into the UK.

Pictures: With Guillaume Fredoux, Technical Director of Château Beauregard

Château Beauregard

Placed on the eastern outskirts of Pomerol and the hamlet Catusseau near Saint-Émilion, the estate lies in a cluster with Château Petit-Village, Vieux Château Certan and Château La Conseillante.

Château Beauregard is the only “real” château in Pomerol, tracing its beginnings to the 11th century
and the Knights Hospitaliers of St John of Jerusalem. They were active in the Pomerol area and owned a small manoir on this very site.

Pictures: Impressive

On these ruins the De Beauregard family constructed a rather grander edifice five centuries later. It was this building, eventually rather dilapidated, which was replaced by the present day château in 1795–97. With two towers and a moat it is an unusually glamorous structure for the Pomerol district.

After becoming one of the region's leading crus in the 19th century, the estate was bought by the Clauzel family in 1920. In 1991 Beauregard was bought by Crédit Foncière. In 2014, Château Beauregard was bought by a partnerhip between the Moulin Family, the owners of the large, French chain of Galerie Lafayette stores and the Cathiard Family, the owners of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte.

The vineyard area extends 17.5 hectares, with a grape variety distribution of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc.

Of the Grand vin Château Beauregard there is annually produced 50,000 to 65,000 bottles, and of the second wine Le Benjamin de Beauregard (formerly Domaine des Douves) there is typically produced 25,000 to 35,000 bottles.

Pictures: Empty Barrel Cellar

What we Tasted

We tasted 4 wines, going back to 1989.

Pictures: Tasting at Château Beauregard

In paranthesis are the wine searcher average prices in US$

2011 Château Beauregard (US$ 37)
2003 Château Beauregard (US$ 59)
1993 Château Beauregard (US$ 26)
1989 Château Beauregard (US$ 71)

Bye-bye

Thank you for a great tour and tasting.

Picture: Thank you for a great tour and tasting

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