2021 Château Gazin, Pomerol, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2021 Gazin has a harmonious, defined bouquet of red and black fruit laced with black truffle and well-integrated oak. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly tough tannins on the entry. A much more linear Gazin compared to recent vintages, leading to a sapid finish. It pulls up a bit short now, but it should fill out during élevage.
Drink 2028 - 2042
Neal Martin, vinous.com, (May 2022)
Plenty of fruits here, although a little sombre, majoring on redcurrant, blackcurrant, hawthorn, rose stem and touches of white truffle to give a gourmet kiss on the finish. Always a serious, structured Pomerol, and it makes it extremely severe in a vintage like 2021.
Drink 2026 - 2042
Jane Anson, janeanson.com (May 2022)
The 2021 Gazin is a fine effort, unfurling in the glass with aromas of sweet red berries, cherries, plums, incense and raw cocoa. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's rather rich and elegantly muscular in the context of the vintage, with a deep core of fruit, powdery tannins and bright acids. Mildew pressure combined with wet conditions that made it impossible to enter the vineyard with tractors delivered low yields of only 18 hectoliters per hectare, and the grand vin is entirely Merlot this year.
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (Apr 2022)
Firm, grainy tannins accompany the core of black fruit and bark. Medium-bodied. Stone character. Mineral, with tangy acidity.
James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (May 2022)
About this WINE
Château Gazin
Château Gazin was reputedly built upon the ruins of the Hôpital de Pomeyrols which was originally established by the Knights of Malta in the 12th century. It has been owned by the Bailliencourts dit Courcol, one of France's oldest families, since the beginning of the last century.
Gazin is located in the eastern part of the Pomerol plateau, where the soils are rich in clay and limestone. Gazin's 26-hectare vineyard (large by Pomerol standards) adjoins the vineyards of L'Evangile and Petrus. The wine is a blend of Merlot (80%), Cabernet Franc (15%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (5%). The grapes are vinified traditionally and the wine is matured in oak barriques (50% new) for 15-18 months.
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.
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Description
Merlot 100%
The wet conditions that precipitated the mildew in May and June also made the vineyard very difficult to work. Yields are thus extremely low (18 hl/ha). At the best of times, Gazin is deep, structured and brooding. It certainly presents that face here, as a powerful and chunky wine. But as ever with Gazin, patience will be rewarded. There are some tantalising savoury and mineral hints, but they are currently tightly compressed into the wine’s structure. This is certainly an authentic Gazin; its followers will not be disappointed. Drink 2027-2042.
Our score: 16/20
Berry Bros. & Rudd, April 2022
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