Château Pétrus Pomerol 1952 neg.

Chateau Petrus is the favourite wine of the world's rich and famous. The flagship Pomerol wine is located near Libourne in the Bordeaux wine-growing region. However, the Pomerol wines differ significantly from the 1er Cru Classé growths of the Left Bank such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut Brion from Graves. Chateau Petrus is a fairly small wine estate with only 11.50 hectares of vineyards. This is planted with around 95 per cent Merlot and only 5 per cent Cabernet Franc. This fact is also the main difference to the wineries mentioned above, the high proportion of Merlot is typical for Chateau Petrus and the other wineries from the Pomerol region. The Pomerol region is located 30 kilometres north of Bordeaux and only experienced its steady and unstoppable rise at the beginning of the 20th century. To the east of Pomerol, the well-known Saint-Émilion wine-growing region joins Pomerol. In the years before the so-called discovery of Pomerol wines, glamorous names such as Chateau Petrus or Chateau Le Pin were only known to insiders. In contrast to the wine estates on the Left Bank, the estates do not boast magnificent castles and estates; wine connoisseurs often find ordinary houses or farms when they visit, as is the case with Chateau Petrus. The best Pomerol wines are produced on the highest parts of the plateau because the soil there consists of gravel and clay. Chateau Petrus has the same soil composition and the wines of Pomerol do not have their own classification. Chateau Petrus only received a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878, where the classification of the Bordelais was also announced. The star of Chateau Petrus rose with the 1945 vintage. Alongside the 1945 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, this is still regarded today as the wine of the century. In 1925, part of the property of Chateau Petrus went to Madame Edmond Loubat. In 1949, the enterprising lady was then able to acquire all the shares in Chateau Petrus and call the estate her own. At that time, however, Chateau Petrus was even smaller than it is today, covering only around 6.50 hectares. Also in this year, Jean-Pierre Moueix took over the distribution of the wines of Chateau Petrus and was also able to buy a third of the shares after the death of Mme Loubat in 1961. Today, Chateau Petrus is owned by the Moueix family, long led by the enterprising wine connoisseur and businessman Jean-Pierre Moueix (1882-1957). In addition to Chateau Petrus, he also owned Chateau Trotanoy, Chateau Lafleur-Pétrus and Chateau Lagrange as well as Château Magdelaine in Saint-Émilion. However, Chateau Petrus is his flagship estate with the best reputation and the highest-rated wines. The annual production at Chateau Petrus is usually only around 20,000 to 25,000 bottles, which makes it almost impossible to obtain an allocation by subscription. Russian oil magnates and Asian businessmen in particular will pay almost any price for a genuine Chateau Petrus. Older vintages of Chateau Petrus are therefore even more difficult to obtain and are guarded like the apple of one's eye. There is probably only one other wine as expensive as Chateau Petrus, and that is the Burgundy legend Domaine Romanee Conti from Vosne-Romanée.

Petrus is also big in 52. My first encounter with this wine was in 1993 at the Petrus tasting in the Wachau. A real sensation for the vintage and better than 50, explosive bouquet, long, opulent - 95/100. A top bottle in 1997 at Willi Krähling, dense colour, hardly any age, wonderfully spicy, complex and long - 99/100. A year later the twin bottle, great, dense substance with beautiful length - 96/100. Most recently in 2004 at a tasting, wonderful, perfectly matured Petrus with a fine sweetness - 96/100. I wouldn't hesitate here with good bottles with impeccable provenance. Petrus will certainly be fun for another 10+ years. In any case, I would prefer the Chateau bottling to the Vandermeulen version. The latter could never keep up with the Chateau bottling, drunk a good 10 times in the last 10 years and always rated 92-93/100. Most recently in 2005 at René Gabriel's big Petrus tasting, where the wine clearly showed that it was on the decline. Both bottles were already very ripe with slight oxidation tones, malty sweetness, but also a slight vinegar tinge - 92/100. There are also other Belgian merchant bottlings, recognisable by the original Petrus label without the addition "mise en bouteille aux Chateau". I drank one of these at Willi Krähling's in 1999, the wine of the evening and certainly on a par with the chateau bottlings - 97/100 (source: wineterminator.com Dr Becker).