2015 Petrus, Pomerol, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
50% new oak
There is so much going on with Petrus in 2015 that you should just pull up a chair and relax; don't expect to be going anywhere soon. Aromatic persistency keeps reaching in, pulling you further alongside. The tannins have a soft quality that allows the black fruit to be both juicy and sweet. High alcohol is balanced by freshness - a pH of 3.5 is relatively rare on these sticky clay soils - unleashing waves of flavour, including bergamot, smoky tea, black olives and rich cherry. The persistency is crazy - I had to get my notes back out two or three times to take down additional flavours because it just kept giving something more. And it makes you smile! What more do you want?
Drink 2023 - 2040
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (December 2017)
This is an exceptional Petrus vintage, the architecture remains relatively tight, slate and pumice stone scrape, stunning layers of raspberry, grilled black cherries, leather and fennel. Savoury yet fully ripe, a beautiful sense of contrast, and just beginning to open up and show its potential. The bottle tasted in London was perhaps a little under par, holding things back, but I have a tasting from one month ago where it was showing exceptionally well.
Drink 2025 to 2044
Jane Anson, janeanson.com (February 2024)
Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.
The 2015 Petrus has a fresh, detailed, yet quite understated bouquet of black fruit, pencil box, smoke and light tarry aromas - very succinct and classy. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, linear, and quite strict in style, which might explain why I knocked off a point compared to my note in January 2018. But it gently builds in intensity to a grippy, graphite-infused finish with that subtle Japanese seaweed tincture I observed previously. Classic in style, this will benefit from several years in bottle. Excellent.
Drink 2027 - 2055
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (July 2019)
Powerful and brooding as a young wine from barrel, the 2015 Petrus has developed exquisite finesse and nuance to play off its natural concentration. Winemaker Oliver Berrouet has always spoken of small berry size as one of the signatures of 2015. To be sure, there is plenty of textural richness and overall intensity. At the same time, the 2015 exudes tons of freshness and vibrancy. Berrouet gave the 2015 18 months in French oak, 50% new. Quite simply, the 2015 is a stratospheric wine with a very bright future.
Drink 2025 - 2055
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2018)
When I asked winemaker Olivier Berrouet about his greatest challenges in 2015, he replied, Our biggest challenge is to avoid all the temptations you can have in the vineyard and in the cellar. You can go too far. With our job, if you go too far, you cant go back. Little steps are best. His comments eloquently explain the immense pressure of handling a seemingly pressure-less vintage like 2015 in Pomerol. But, with the devil in all the many details that are involved in the pursuit of wine perfection, if anyone has that devil by the horns, it is this incredibly talented young winemaker.
Drink 2024 - 2058
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (February 2018)
Tasted blind
Savoury and solid. Lots of nuance and a bit of alcohol. It just shuts down a bit on the end. Hot! A bit vegy. Fresh finish.
Drink 2024 - 2044
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2019)
The aromas to this are a reference for Pomerol, with truffles, black olives, black liquorice, dark fruit, and even brown sugar. It is full-bodied, layered, and multi-dimensional. Chocolate underlines the character above. The perfect tannin texture, length, and balance make you think you're dreaming. It is all about harmony and beauty. I would love to taste it now, but it needs at least five or six years.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (October 2019)
The best yet from winemaker Olivier Berrouet (first vintage 2008). 30% of the crop was declassified. Lots of lift and energy. Lively aromatic expression with floral, dark fruit and liquorice notes. Palate ripe, juicy and refreshing, the texture smooth and polished. Structured attack and then great depth and persistence. Powerful but with charm.
2025 - 2050
James Lawther MW, Decanter.com
The 2015 Chateau Petrus is undoubtedly one of the gems in the vintage and will probably merit a perfect score in another decade. Even so, it has the sexy, exotic nature of the vintage front and centre and offers a huge perfume of black currants, kirsch liqueur, Asian spices, and incense. As always, this beauty is 100% Merlot, brought up in 50% new wood in 2015. A wine that opens up beautifully with time in the glass, it has beautiful mid-palate depth, sweet, sweet tannins, and a voluptuous yet weightless texture that needs to be tasted to be believed. Hide bottles for 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 3-4 decades.
Drink 2023 - 2063
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (October 2018)
About this WINE
Petrus
Petrus is a wine estate in Pomerol on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. It is among the most celebrated and recognisable wines in the world.
While the estate can trace its history to at least 1837, it flew relatively under the radar until around the 20th century. Madame Loubat, who became the sole owner in 1945, felt that the estate was truly special, and her efforts were instrumental in establishing Petrus on the world stage. She also appointed Jean-Pierre Moueix as the exclusive agent; he and his sons Jean-François and Christian were key in building the estate’s modern reputation. The Moueix family became majority owners here in 1969. In 2018, they were joined by American-Colombian Alejandro Santo Domingo, who purchased a 20% stake.
Petrus is located atop the Pomerol plateau. Most of its vines sit on a so-called “buttonhole” of blue clay soil, known as smectite. This soil’s ability to retain water is a huge benefit in the Pomerol appellation, where drought is a known issue. The vineyard is planted mostly to Merlot.
The estate is run today by winemaker Olivier Berrouet, previously of neighbouring Château Cheval Blanc. Olivier joined in 2008, taking over from his father, Jean-Claude, who had produced 44 vintages of Petrus in his time.
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.
Merlot
The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.
Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
100% Merlot
The 2015 Petrus is quite restrained on the nose yet so opulent on the palate. Expressive, seductive black fruits and spicy cedar wood dominate. The tannins are totally ripe, and acidity perfectly balances the fruit and the gloriously long finish. Juicy, rich, fresh fruit appears on the mid-palate. The length is very impressive. Grown-up and heady, this is a genuinely elegant and multi-layered wine which offers a lovely cornucopia of flavours throughout the palate and finish. There is such focus here. It's a really successful result: so, so soft and utterly charming.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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