Château de Chambrun

Lalande de Pomerol, France

If there is one thing to understand about Château de Chambrun, it is this: there is a famed geological oddity in Pomerol, a mound of blue clay with a dense, sticky quality that gives rise to the best Merlot on Earth. Pétrus is at the center of that mound, and the dozen or so great names that surround it all have some small part of it with the rest of their hectarage on a gravel over top of that clay, which grows thicker and sandier as the famous mound slopes down to the village.

Now, just north, you have the larger appellation of Lalande-de-Pomerol, which is a wonderful terroir, sure, but it is not that mound, and so it piggy-backs on the name Pomerol while offering beautiful but by no means life-changing wines, offering them at beautiful but by no means life-changing prices. The thing about that odd clay mound, though, is that it pops up at the same elevation in a tiny tear drop just on the other side of the Barbanne Valley in Neac—that valley being the boundary between illustrious Pomerol and opening act Lalande de Pomerol (see map below).

Only two estates occupy that rare patch of Earth: Château de Chambrun and Château La Fleur de Bouard’s cuvée Le Plus. And while the latter charges accordingly at $120 - $166 wholesale, still a great deal considering, the former offers up world-bending Merlot at a fraction of a fraction of the prices commanded by the estates encircling Pé- {cough} {cough}.

Uncovering this winery is the very essence of the work involved in studying soil maps and seeking out terroir wines. Do I mean to suggest that Chambrun is as good as Pétrus? I, like you, am a mere mortal who has never had so much as an inhale of that bucket list wine, but I’ve had the privilege of tasting many of its neighbours, and Chambrun is on the level. But even the scores do not reveal this (thankfully!) as scoring by major magazines is done ‘blind’ only insofar as they will know the appellation they are sitting down to when it’s review time, and prejudices come pre-loaded.

The sheer luck of meeting Julian Noël, the leader behind this fearsome young venture, is incredible. In 2015, he was hired by an extremely discreet French businessman who bought the estate and handed it over to Julian, who grew up in Sauternes. He and his vineyard director, Bruno Chaminade, have brought an incredible sense of freedom and desire to do things differently and reach higher. They began conversion to organic farming. The beautiful Château was fully renovated as were the cellars. Their chais is proudly appointed with top-flight cooperage, Taransaud oak fermenters, and top-flight amphorae. You can feel the excitement, the velocity, the transformative power of it all bouncing around the room, Julian’s speech barely containing his enthusiasm.

They’ve undertaken extensive re-plantings to better match their soil analyses, employing massale selection paired with the best rootstocks available for each soil type. The heavier styling of consulting oenologist Michel Rolland was ousted shortly thereafter for the youthful vision of wunderkind Thomas Duclos (who’s command of elegance and freshness have vaunted Troplong Mondot, Giscours, and Canon to a new tier). They are even planting experimental white varieties in sandier soils (murmurs of Riesling...?). Mustard grass, clover, and nettles grow between the rows, and beehives dot the vineyards along their lake and 1.15 hectares of parkland, all attracting pollinators. Drones are used to analyse leaf-fall and water stress. Ploughing is manual. The direction is enervating, an embrace of the future in service of restoring tradition. To cooperate with nature as intelligently as possible to usher forth the best possible wine from this precious rare clay.

Keep an eye on these guys, as they have big plans. Maybe because the owner himself stays so far in the background; or maybe because the two directors have come from less-well-known appellations […] but there is a real sense of freedom and desire to do things differently. […] Get on board. —Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux.