After three years of works, yesterday saw the unveiling of the sleek new winery and visitor centre at Chateau Petit Village in Pomerol.
This chateau is owned by AXA Millesimes (also owners of Chateau Pichon Baron in Pauillac and Chateau Suduiraut in Sauternes), and run by Christian Seely and techincal director Daniel Llose. Yesterday was a lunch and visit aimed mainly at tour operators to show what new wine tourism services are on offer, but I managed to go along - always interested in new wine tourism things in Bordeaux for www.winetravelguides.com
The new cellars are fantastic (I took photos and will upload them, but am right now in Barcelona at climate and wine conference... more on that later).
Many of the ideas for the architecture came from Rioja, where of course architecture in the wineries has been taken to an art form, and there is extensive use of techniques now being employed at Petit Village such as gravity systems, peristaltic pumps etc. Actually, the last one might need explaining a bit further - peristalsis is the process of involuntary wave-like successive muscular contractions by which food is gently moved through the digestive tract, and the same idea is applied to grapes, so ensuring a far gentler handing than normal pumps, causing almost no damage to the grapes.
The new tanks are all made from cement (increasingly cement tanks are seeing a return to popularity in bordeaux, after years when they were taken out to make way for stainless steel). Of course, this being Petit Village, the cement tanks here are entirely black and look like art installations. They have, interestingly, larger openings at the top of the cuves than usual, to allow for manual pushing down of the cap (a technique used a lot in burgundy, known as pigeage). Again this is to encourage gentle manipulation of the grapes.
The architect was Alain Triaud, who has also been working on the new underground cellars at Pichon Baron (due to officially open next month in time for the en primeurs tasting).
Alongside the cellars is a very welcoming boutique, selling the estate's wines (Petit Village plus second wine Les Jardins de Petit Village), plus wine accessories. There is also a tasting room upstairs with views over the vineyards, and chateaux such as La Conseillante next door. The whole thing is going to be opened daily throughout the year - and for Pomerol, this really is a big deal, because today there are almost no wineries that are truly easy to visit, especially unannounced.
Tasting notes:
Les Jardins du Petit Village 2004 Very light and fresh. This is made from their young merlot vines, of which there is an increasing number due to an extensive replanting programme over the past few years. Very flattering wine, with tannins almost entirely melted away. 87-88.
Chateau Petit Village 2004. Now it starts getting serious, they clearly hold back the best parcels for this. Dense, rich, very deep black cherry and damson plum fruits. Well structured with layers of chocolate, perhaos slighty too flashy with the oak. 92-93.
