Château l’Ancien – Lalande de Pomerol 2000 ****  (As rated by Wine Spectator)

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L’Ancien Vineyard is located at the heart of Léon Nony’s property of Château Garraud, on the plateau of the commune of Néac. The exceptionally old vines (95 years) of this plot belonged to the Chevalier d’Archambaut, who bequeathed them as a legacy to the Nony family under the condition that only an exceptional wine would be made with these vines.  When Léon Nony decided to rival with Christian Moueix’s “Château Petrus”, this was the vineyard chosen to make an exceptional wine!

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 100% Merlot – Vines over 90 years old – Double Guyot pruning is used with manual bud and leaf removal for crop thinning. 

After a long maceration, Château l’Ancien is matured in new oak barrels for two years in an underground, air conditioned cellar. The barrels are turned by hand six to eight times a day for the entire maturation period and very sophisticated temperature control devices are used to control the ageing process. The result is an amazingly complex and integrated wine, ample and generous and extremely elegant.

Vintage:  Such a lot of good has already been said about the 2000 vintage that it is hardly needed to stress anything more, except maybe that  2000 is just beginning to open up to its full potential!

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(As rated by Wine Spectator)
Tasting Notes: A very dark and brilliant robe. A nose of summer flowers like geranium or azaleas. The palate  reveals black berries and coffee with a long finish of dark cherries on discreet but well structured tannins.  The word that immediately comes to mouth is: “Pure Silk!”  One of the most elegant Bordeaux wines, comparable only to a Château Margaux, or a Petrus.  It doesn’t really get much better than this, EVER!

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