Sometimes every single meter counts. The landscape around the village of Pomerol in the French Bordeaux region has hardly any differences in altitude. But the wine prices of a winery at 35 meters above sea level differ from those at 20 meters by a good extra zero before the decimal point. Add another five meters and there are already two zeros – which would put us in the thousand-euro range. Perhaps only in Vosne-Romanée in Burgundy do geological differences over such a small area translate into such dramatic financial differences as in Pomerol. No wonder that the term terroir is not just a marketing buzzword for the leading châteaux of the appellation.
In the heart of Pomerol
“This is the golden heart of Pomerol.” Olivier Trégoat, technical director of the Rothschild estates, points to a green rectangle. On the map on the wall, it shows the Dubuch parcel in the northeast of the vineyard, which we walked through just an hour ago. This is where the estate’s highest rows of vines are located. There are hardly any pebbles here, unlike in the neighboring plots, and the soil is gray rather than brownish in color. It may seem like an inconspicuous hillock, but it is a geological extravaganza: a remnant of 35-million-year-old clay formations that once shaped the entire region. While the rest of the land up to an altitude of 35 meters was covered by several different layers of alluvial sediments during the ice ages that began a good million years ago, initially by pebbles during the Günz Ice Age and then mainly by sand, a formation of 12 hectares of pure, almost blue-colored clay soil remained at the highest point. This soil has a high proportion of smectite, a type of swelling clay that has a higher water retention capacity than the illite clays in the west of the plateau. This is invaluable for vines.
In the gentle terraced landscape of Pomerol, the “Boutonnière de Pétrus,” or buttonhole of Château Pétrus, a small hill barely visible to the naked eye, now forms the apex. From here, the soil slopes gently in all directions to the four scenic boundaries of the region marked by rivers: the Dordogne, the Isle, the Barbanne, and the Tallas. The respective (altitude) location of the vineyard within these terraces determines its financial value. At the top, of course, is Château Pétrus, on whose grounds the elevation named after it, only a few meters high, mainly extends. Less well known is that the Châteaux Vieux-Château Certan and La Conseillante also have shares in it – as does Château L’Évangile with its more than 2-hectare Dubuch plot.
The terroir of L’Évangile
There is a specific reason why we are examining this situation not in the vineyard itself, but on the basis of a detailed soil map on a scale of 1:2500: Olivier Trégoat is himself an outstanding specialist in soil mapping, having worked with the leading terroir expert in Bordeaux, Cornelis van Leeuwen from the University of Bordeaux, during his studies and published numerous articles with him. Trégoat’s doctoral thesis consisted of a comparative soil study of the top Bordeaux wineries organized in the “Club Eight,” which includes Château Lafite, as well as L’Évangile’s neighbors Château Pétrus and Château Cheval-Blanc. He then advised numerous wineries on issues of vineyard geology and management, including the Rothschild family, as founder of the company “Olivier Trégoat Viti-Development.”
In 2015, Trégoat joined DBR on a permanent basis and took over the technical management of the wineries outside Bordeaux (in addition to China, in Languedoc, Chile, and Argentina), and in July 2020, he took over the technical management of Châteaux Paradis Casseuil (Entre-deux-mers), Rieussec in Sauternes, and L’Évangile. With Trégoat, who, in addition to soil science, had also worked on issues relating to the water supply of vines and their nitrogen balance, as well as foliage management, DBR had brought one of the leading viticulture experts of his generation on board.
However, the quality of the soils at Château L’Évangile was, of course, already well known before Olivier Trégoat’s arrival. In fact, the estate is one of the oldest in Pomerol and was first mentioned in documents in 1741 as the property of the Léglise family of Libourne under the name “Fazilleau.” The Belleyme map of 1785 lists Certan and Gazin as its northern neighbors and Cheval-Blanc and Dominique, which now belong to the Saint-Émilion appellation, as its southern neighbors, but also Conseillante, which now borders Château L’Évangile to the west. After the Revolution, the 13-hectare estate was sold to lawyer Pierre-Raymond Isambert, who would also become the owner of Château Trotte Vielle in Saint-Émilion and immodestly renamed Fazilleau “Domaine L’Évangile”: the Evangelium.
The wine merchants of Libourne
In 1862, the estate was acquired by Jean-Paul Chaperon, who came from a renowned family of merchants in Libourne. He invested in the estate and, in 1874, had the small château built in the style of the Second Empire, along with a small park. The results were not long in coming: as early as the 1868 edition of the Bordeaux almanac of Cocks & Féret – the first to include Pomerol – the estate was listed as a “Premier Cru de Pomerol.” It was also noted that “in good years, this wine fetches the highest prices paid in Pomerol.” Through the marriage of Chaperon’s daughter Louise to Louis Ducasse, owner of Château Larcis-Ducasse in Saint-Émilion, L’Évangile eventually passed to a family of eminent historical significance, as “President Ducasse” had acquired several parts of the Château Figeac estate some 30 years earlier and formed Château Cheval-Blanc from them.
Until World War II, the quality of L’Évangile remained at the top of the appellation. In both the 1900 and 1929 Féret guides, the estate ranked third behind Château Pétrus and Vieux Château Certan, and in the 1941 Courtiers classification, it was in the top seven, directly behind Pétrus. In 1947, a legendary wine was finally produced at L’Évangile, which is still one of the icons of Pomerol today. When the estate, like the entire region, fell victim to the devastating frost disaster in 1956, the family reacted quickly and transferred management to Louis Ducasse, the grandson of the ancestor of the same name.
Under his leadership, convinced of L’Évangile’s equal status with Pétrus, two-thirds of the vineyards were replanted and the recently somewhat irregular quality was improved. From today’s perspective, it is hard to believe, but the 1959 and 1961 wines, made largely from very young vines, are once again among the very best examples of these century vintages. In 1982, after Ducasse’s death, his 78-year-old widow Simone Ducasse took over the management and immediately and successfully hired Michel Rolland as a consultant. In 1990, however, Simone, who had no descendants, sold a 70 percent stake in Château L’Évangile to the Lafite branch of the Rothschild family under Éric de Rothschild, and then the remaining 30 percent in 1998.
L’Évangile and the Rothschild family
The new owner made a big splash the following year by not bottling a 1991 L’Évangile, but instead introducing the new second wine Blason de L’Évangile. In addition, careful investments were made, particularly in new barriques. With the complete takeover and the appointment of Dominique Befve, technical manager at Lafite and Duhart-Milon, as the estate’s first technical director, things really took off. From 1998 onwards, most of the vineyards were replanted, and in 2004 – by which time Jean-Pascale Vazart, who had awakened Château Le Bosq from its slumber, replaced Dominique Befve, who had moved to Château Lascombes in Margaux as estate director – the wine cellar was completely redesigned according to the principle of gravity, with the barrique cellar’s circular architecture reminiscent of that of Château Lafite.
Despite the extensive replanting during these years, the focus was primarily on oenology and cellar technology. Dominique Befve defined his recipe with the sentence: “At L’Évangile, we had a great terroir, and once we added great technology, we also produced great wines.” Indeed, some great wines were produced during these years (such as 2000 and 2009), but in the 2000s, the main impetus for the wine world came from a return to the vineyard and terroir, and the concept of climate change gradually came to the fore. When Saskia de Rothschild first became her father Eric’s deputy in 2016 and then replaced him as CEO of Domaines Barons de Rothschild in 2018, it quickly became clear that, in addition to preserving the Rothschild -typical delicacy and aging potential of the wines, the focus would be on viticulture and sustainability, with some consequences for the group’s wineries, not least Château L’Évangile. Terroir specialist Olivier Trégoat was the perfect choice for the position of technical director of the Rothschild Group.
Olivier Trégoat and his team
After just two harvests under his leadership, it was clear that Château L’Évangile was in excellent shape. This was also due to Trégoat being an excellent team player. Juliette Couderc (who previously worked at DBR’s Long Dai winery in China), brought on board by Trégoat in September 2020, is responsible for the day-to-day running as Estate Manager. She is also responsible for liaising with the important research and development department, which – under the leadership of Manuela Brando from Colombia – works on optimizing all aspects of the vineyard and cellar at the Rothschild estates. What often leads to turf wars elsewhere is an additional motivational boost for the crew at L’Évangile. No wonder, since here, with the help of highly qualified employees and considerable resources, as well as in cooperation with numerous university research departments, the struggle is not only for the highest wine quality, but also for nothing less than the future of viticulture as a whole.
In 2021, the winery’s organic certification was completed. The vineyards, which now cover 22 hectares, are also cultivated biodynamically using the appropriate preparations, and important steps in the cellar, such as bottling, are carried out in accordance with the lunar calendar. “Essential work in the vineyard,” says Juliette Couderc, “is now linked to climate change, particularly in relation to the lack of water in the soil. We do everything we can to preserve the freshness and tension that are the hallmarks of Château L’Évangile.” This is particularly important because Pomerol is the hottest wine-growing region in Bordeaux and most of the vines on the estate are still quite young after being replanted and, with their underdeveloped root systems, are less resistant to water shortages.
Viticulture in the face of climate change
Therefore, when it comes to vineyard cover cropping, they work with botanists who catalog the plant species in the vineyard and examine their potential impact on the water stress of the vines. In order to avoid compacting the soil, initial (unsuccessful) attempts were made to cultivate the land using drones, but now horses are being used instead. Individual rows of vines are used for experiments with different foliage walls, and a kind of “sunscreen” is being tested on vine leaves, an emulsion based on clay granules, to delay the early ripening of the vines. On another plot, different rootstocks for the vines are being tested, and in 2018, a mass selection project was launched with the high-end vine nursery Lillian Bérillon, for which around 80 vines were selected from the last stock of old Cabernet Franc vines.
Of course, L’Évangile is also considering the grape variety composition of the blend. Merlot remains the first choice for the clay soils of the Pomerol plateau, especially in combination with the Riparia Gloire rootstock, which delays growth and ripening. “But we are currently seeing alcohol levels of around 14.5 to 15 percent in Merlot and a sharp increase in color,” says Olivier Trégoat. “So the proportion of Cabernet Franc in the blend will probably continue to increase.” Today, the ratio of Merlot to Cabernet Franc is 80 to 20 – in years such as 2018, this even corresponds to the blend of the Grand Vin, unlike ten years ago, when Merlot often dominated with well over 90 percent. In 2019, for the first time in the estate’s history, half a percent of Cabernet Sauvignon from a recently planted parcel was added.
A new style
“In addition,” adds Trégoat, “we are now also interested in sandier sites that produce lighter, more elegant wines.” This goal has also been pursued through the acquisition of vineyards in recent years. Despite the fact that a further 6 hectares of classic clay-gravel terroir on the high plateau of Pomerol were acquired from Château Croix de Gay, a neighbor to the west of Château Lafleur: to the core of the estate’s vineyards around the property — the Dubuch, Le Cuvier and Pipeaude – there were also added the plots “La Bréole” (from Château Dominique) and “Jean Faure” (from the winery of the same name), which are located opposite but actually belong to the Saint-Émilion appellation, as well as “Petit Chantecaille,” “Chantecaille” and “Les Petites Jouailles,” which are geologically very diverse and tend to have pebbly-sandy soils. Previously only usable with special permission, since the legal incorporation of these sites into the Pomerol appellation in 2021, L’Évangile officially combines the lightness of sand with the structure of gravel and the power of clay in the service of balance.
The measures taken in the cellar also support the overarching goal of freshness and tension. Even here, Olivier Trégoat is a step ahead of the classic methodology. “Originally, the new fermentation cellar was designed for parcel-specific vinification. But the precise mapping of the sites has shown us that the situation is much more complex.” Because a parcel does not necessarily correspond to a soil formation, harvesting is now done “intra-parcellaire,” i.e., within the plots, grapes are picked separately according to different soils and the corresponding ripeness of the berries—whereby the respective grapes are then fermented together with those of the same date from comparable soils after a night of cooling to 4 degrees Celsius in one of the 20 cement or a few stainless steel tanks.
Adjustments in the cellar
Reducing the proportion of new wood in wine production also helps to preserve freshness. Traditionally, a good 80 percent of the barriques at the Rothschild estates come from the in-house cooperage, but at L’Évangile, a whole range of different tonneliers such as Darnajou, Séguin Moreau, Berger et Fils, Allary, and Raoux are used. The proportion of new wood has recently been reduced to 50 percent, and the aroma profile of the woods used, for example at Ana Venus, is designed for elegance rather than opulence. A good 7 percent of the wine is also aged in 320-liter amphorae from the Italian producer Tava. To tease out even more nuances, Trégoat and Couderc are considering allowing part of the malolactic fermentation to take place in larger wooden containers, and are also conducting trials with the estate’s own yeasts.
Before the obligatory tasting, Olivier Trégoat mischievously reveals that the Château L’Évangile team was the first in Pomerol to start harvesting in 2020. A comparison shows the path the winery has taken over the last ten years: The 2010 vintage, still aged 100 percent in new oak, made from ultra-ripe grapes and with over 15 percent alcohol, presents itself with lush power and slightly liqueur-like aromas. In contrast, the 2016 vintage is significantly more structured, but also silkier and more balanced. The much-praised 2020 vintage, of which there will be fewer than 30,000 bottles of Grand Vin, will not be bottled until spring 2023. For Juliette Couderc, it already looks very promising: “It is a blend of powerful parcels from the plateau with others that are more lively and exciting. I think the key word for 2020 is balance.” Trégoat, Couderc, and their team want to be judged on this vintage.
This article is an edited reprint of an article from FINE – Das Weinmagazin 1/2022.
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Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel Images
