There was a time when Pomerol was an insider’s wine, a poor country cousin to the superstar Lafites, Margaux and Moutons of the left bank. Today, of course, when Pomerols like Petrus and Le Pin... Read More

There was a time when Pomerol was an insider’s wine, a poor country cousin to the superstar Lafites, Margaux and Moutons of the left bank. Today, of course, when Pomerols like Petrus and Le Pin cost many thousands of dollars a bottle, that day feels long past.

And yet Pomerol is still somehow a region full of insider wines. It’s a rare big-name appellation that still has many small, family-owned producers—none of whom are more exciting than Château Bourgneuf.

Bourgneuf has a small holding right next to the much better known (and pricey) Château Trotanoy. Their patchwork of terroirs includes a mix of Pomerol’s famous clays, including a parcel with lots of iron deposits (which can give violet and even truffle notes to the wine) that abuts Trotanoy’s vines. They also have a gravel-rich parcel and some sandy sites. This mix of terroirs makes for complex wines with richness as well as fine elegance.

Bourgneuf is run by two generations of women, dedicated to conscientious (vine-by-vine) hand farming, minimal-interventionist winemaking, patience, and a thousand small (but right) choices.