Chateau Tournebrise Lalande de Pomerol 2016

Step out on to the terrace of Emeric Petit’s elegant Château Tournebrise in Lalande-de-Pomerol and I’ll bet “location, location, location” is the first thing to comes to mind. Just 600 yards away and in clear view from the terrace,  lies Château Pétrus, one of Bordeaux’s most famous and  sought after red wines. At $1500 or so per bottle, it’s also one of the world’s most expensive. The soil is the same, gravel and clay, the exposition of vineyards, more or less the same too. Aside from the price, what’s not the same is the appellation.

The border between Pétrus and Emeric’s estate is also the border between the famous Pomerol area and the much less known, Lalande-de Pomerol. Why the line is drawn there, who knows? Whoever owned the chateau circa 1780 probably didn’t play the right political game when they drew up the map.

That cost Tournebrise a lot of cash and prestige because aside from Pétrus, you can also see the vineyards of Chateaux Trotanoy and Lafleur-Pétrus, which each command a price-tag of around $300. Not too shabby of a neighborhood for Emeric because when you taste his brilliant 2016, it’s clear that Tournebreise belongs on that block.