2014 Château Le Gay, Pomerol, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Neal Martin - 31/03/2017
Jancis Robinson MW - jancisrobinson.com - Apr 2015
About this WINE
Chateau le Gay
Château Le Gay is a Pomerol property, which is now beginning to realise its potential after many years of underperforming. Previously owned by sisters Marie and Thérèse Robin, Le Gay is now owned and run by their niece and nephew, Sylvie and Jacques Guinaudeau. They also own Château Lafleur. Le Gay consists of 9 hectares of 40-year-old vines planted just to the north of the Pomerol plateau.
Yields are minuscule, often being as low as 15-20 hectolitres per hectare, and it is this, combined with the old age of the vines, that give the wines their depth and complexity. Typically the Le Gay is a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc. It is aged in oak casks for 18-20 months. Le Gay is a Pomerol property on the rise.
Pomerol
Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux's major appellations, with about 150 producers and approximately 740 hectares of vineyards. It is home to many bijou domaines, many of which produce little more than 1,000 cases per annum.
Both the topography and architecture of the region is unremarkable, but the style of the wines is most individual. The finest vineyards are planted on a seam of rich clay which extends across the gently-elevated plateau of Pomerol, which runs from the north-eastern boundary of St Emilion. On the sides of the plateau, the soil becomes sandier and the wines lighter.
There is one satellite region to the immediate north, Lalande-de-Pomerol whose wines are stylistically very similar, if sometimes lacking the finesse of its neighbour. There has never been a classification of Pomerol wines.
Recommended Châteaux : Ch. Pétrus, Vieux Ch. Certan, Le Pin, Ch. L’Eglise-Clinet, Ch. La Conseillante, Ch. L’Evangile, Ch. Lafleur, Trotanoy, Ch. Nenin, Ch. Beauregard, Ch. Feytit-Clinet, Le Gay.
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
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Description
The 2014 Le Gay is blessed with a fabulous bouquet of brambly red berry fruit tinged with black truffle, roasted chestnut and just a hint of hung game. There is marvelous energy here, the aromatics keeping you engaged. The palate is medium-bodied with superb purity, certainly very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity. Sure, there is a veneer of vanilla oak to be assimilated on the finish, but there is such depth and persistence that this will be no problem. This surpasses my expectations from barrel and continues the fine form of this Pomerol estate.
Neal Martin - 31/03/2017
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