Description
The name Pétrus first appeared in 1837, when the estate was owned by the Arnaud family. It was owned by this family since the end of the 18th century and the original vineyard was less than 7 Ha.
The vineyard, situated on the plateau in Pomerol on the right bank of the Gironde estuary, had been planted almost entirely with Merlot (95%). Only 5% was reserved for Cabernet Franc, but in 2010 they changed to 100% Merlot grapes. Although the wines from Pétrus were considered one of the best from Pomerol in the 19th century, it was not until the end of World War 2 that the wine became famous throughout the world with the fantastic 1945.
The widow Madame Loubat became the sole proprietor of the domaine in 1940. She became an passionate and dedicated wine grower throughout her life and started to co-operate with the Moueix firm. Jean-Pierre Moueix acquired the exclusive distribution rights of Pétrus in 1945 as well and began selling the wines outside France. After the harsh winter of 1956, almost 70% of the vineyard was destroyed. Instead of replanting, Madame Loubat decided to cut back the vines on surviving rootstocks, thus ensuring that the average age of the vines remained high. Madame Loubat died in 1961, and the property was divided into 3 shares.
In 1969 5Ha of vineyard was bought from the neighbor Château Gazin. When Jean-Pierre Moueix died in 2003, his son Jean-François Moueix became the owner of Pétrus. The surface area of Pétrus covers 11.4 Ha and the average age of the vines is 45+ years.
All the grapes are harvested by hand and because the vineyard is quite small, the harvest can be done in one to three days only. The selection of the grapes is rigorous. There is no second wine, so the average production is about 25.000 – 30.000 bottles every year.
Legendary vintages are: 1929, 1945, 1947, 1950, 1961, 1964, 1982, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016.
Tasting Notes
Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Petrus (bottled in mid-July 2017) opens in its own time to reveal crushed black cherries, warm plums, mulberries and cedar chest suggestions with touches of anise, lavender, beef drippings and wild thyme plus a waft of crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with generous, exuberant, wonderfully layered red, black and perfumed blue fruits contrasted beautifully by very ripe, very fine-grained and very firm tannins plus an ethereal line of seamless acid, finishing long and minerally . Olivier Berrouet and his team have knocked it out of the park in 2015. Look for this Pétrus to build and unfold over the next 20 years and confidently cellar this legend for 40+ years.[100/100, Lisa Perrotti-Brown – February 2018, robertparker.com]
