2014 Badine de La Patache Pomerol

2014 Badine de La Patache Pomerol

Who: Peter Kwok
What: 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
Where: Pomerol, Bordeaux, France
Tastes Like: Black & redcurrants, leather, and graphite on the nose.  Smooth and silky, waves of red fruit, dusty earth, and baking spices on the palate.
Pairs With: Game, mushrooms, roasts and stews. 

The Where:
The much-vaunted appellation of Pomerol is both the proverbial black sheep and flashy new kid on Bordeaux’s block. It’s more expensive, doesn’t hold any type of classification ranking system (there are no Grand or Premier Cru vineyards), and covers a truly tiny area--only 3 square miles! Despite all this, many châteaux have released some of the world’s finest wines here (Pétrus being the most famous example), and almost all of them share a sense of prestige and mysticism.

And yet, one of the major advantages of Pomerol is that you can, albeit with a lot of hunting, find affordable gems that are within striking distance of the world’s finest Merlot-growing sites. Even better, Pomerol as a whole is much more enjoyable in its youth than its Cabernet-heavy neighbors on the Left Bank, but can still age with the best classed growths.

The Who:
Château la Patache comes from just 3 hectares of land along Pomerol’s most prominent stretch of road.  Purchased by Peter Kwok and his son in 2012, their vines are divided into nine separate parcels, some of which hold proximity to high end vine real estate like Château Clinet and Latour á Pomerol, and yields are kept deliberately low.  The soil is complex, with a gravelly upper layer supported by iron-rich clays known locally as “crasse de fer”. 

La Patache is a locality on the road connecting Bordeaux and Lyon, whose name evokes the coaches which traveled between the cities in the 19th century.  “La Patache” first appeared on Napoleonic maps.  The original stone buildings are a former post office at th entrance of LIbourne.  The stables were renovated in 2012, with a modern winery and barrel cellar installed.

The Wine:
Château La Patache’s holdings are predominately Merlot and today’s 2014—their ‘second wine,’ which is essentially their Grand Vin with slightly less oak influence and aging—is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The soils are plowed, vines are maintained by hand, and harvest varies from plot to plot depending on the state of the individual berries.  Grapes picked by hand and are rigorously sorted for quality. Following a multi-week fermentation in the winery (25% stainless steel, 75% Bordeaux cask), the wine is transferred into 20% new French oak for 15 months. Only 540 cases were produced.  Though pleasing to drink now, bottles of this wine could be cellared for 5-10 years with ease.