I tasted fewer wines from Pomerol than I’d have liked owing to a shortage of time on my recent Bordeaux primeurs trip. I stopped off at Château Beauregard for the UGCB tasting there. This line-up was generally very consistent, and many attractive wines have been made. They are all very much of the vintage, structured, vivid and fresh. Earlier in the trip I tasted blind the Pomerol represented by the Grand Cercle. These were a bit more mixed, which I think is related to the challenges of heat and drought in 2025 and what this meant for soils on drier sandier plots. There seemed a correlation with those wines that felt a bit less ripe in tannin, with more austerity, and being on sandier soils. Remember that the yields in 2025 were also very low, not simply owing to the heat and drought, but also the inherited effects of the tricky flowering period in the preceding 2024 growing season. In fact, yields were generally in the 30hl/ha area. So, what are my picks?

This is a very small snapshot of the wines from Pomerol in 2020. They all showed good colour and generally had plenty of fruit. Château Feytit-Clinet was a beauty, displaying sensuality and satin-like fruit qualities. I was also impressed again with Château Mazeyres from Alain Moueix, a leading biodynamic producer who makes wonderfully fresh and clear Pomerol. Château La Commanderie, Château Lécuyer, Château Taillefer and Château Vieux Maillet have also made attractive Pomerol in 2020, showing substance but also elegance. Château La Clémence, Château Le Moulin and Clos Vieux Taillefer have produced solid wine but without the excitement of the rest.

Of the 2019 Pomerols that I tasted back in June, a number of good to very good wines have been produced. Top of the tree for me is an undoubted beauty from Château La Conseillante that I have already devoted a post which you can read here. This is amongst the very best of the vintage of the wines I’ve had a chance to look at. The rest of my Pomerol tastings were limited mainly to members of Le Grand Cercle. Amongst these Château Mazeyres, Château Maillet and Château La Clémence [all pictured here] really impressed me. Mazeyres is worth a special mention. This wine is crafted on a biodynamic basis by Alain Moueix and it stood out for its effortless clarity and purity [something which can also be said for Mouiex’s other property Château Fonroque in St Emilion]. There was also a very good performance from Château Lécuyer. Château La Commanderie and Clos Vieux Taillefer were good and solid, if rather chunky. Domaine de L’Eglise, from the Borie-Manoux stable, was sturdy and well-made and Château La Croix du Casse soft and forward.

This year a shortage of time only allowed me the opportunity to taste eleven wines from Pomerol that were shown at the Grand Cercle event in April, along with a few others with Jean-Luc Thunevin. In May I had the opportunity to taste Château Gazin, which was wonderfully pure and strong. Overall, it’s been difficult to draw firm conclusions on such a small sample, but the wines I’ve tasted from Pomerol certainly show plenty of joyful, ripe fruit and considerable style. The wines were generally low in acidity. Again, as in St Emilion, to me they didn’t have the delightful tension of the 2015 and 2016 vintages, with 2018 seemingly much more akin to 2009 in style. If there is a flaw, it is that the wines lack acidity. That said, many will provide immediately pleasure and this doesn’t feel like a vintage that will need much time in bottle.