Appellation
AOC
Lalande-de-Pomerol
AOC Lalande-de-Pomerol is adjacent to the vineyards of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. This AOC is located in the region of Libourne, about thirty kilometers east of Bordeaux.
It is separated by a small stream, the Barbanne. The appellation produces 54,000 hl of red wines per year, on 1,200 ha.
The AOC is located in two communes: Lalande de Pomerol and Néac.
In Lalande de Pomerol, basements are mainly composed of sand and graves. In Néac, the vineyard is planted on a higher plateau, composed of gravel and clay loams.
The history of Bordeaux is also that of rivers abutting on limestone cliffs and depositing their sediments on the other side of the shore. This is the case in Lalande de Pomerol, child of the courses of Isle and Barbanne.
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To the west of the appellation, the Isle river bordered on its right bank by the limestone cliff of Fronsac has deposited its sediments on its left bank, giving rise to the terraces of gravels.
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Subsequently the Barbanne, which separates the name Lalande de Pomerol on its north bank from its neighbor Pomerol in the south, came to cut a small valley offering a declination of soils found on both shores.
In the south and east, gravely clay soils, in the west, approaching the Isle valley, the lands become more silty and clay-silty to the north. The subsoil consists mainly of decalcified hardened and reddened deposits of quartz, flint and granite rich in ferric oxides, called iron fats in the region.
Features
Merlot dominates the blending of Libournais wines, like those of Pomerol. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec are also used in wine making. The Lalande-de-Pomerol are characterized by a deep red, pledge of powerful wines and "bouquetés". The tannic presence is revealed from the attack but the warm side reappears very quickly in the palate where the tannins become velvety. Factors are the terroir of the grands crus, the natural conditions, the soil and the climate. It is the climate that allows the cultivation of the vine and allows the grapes to acquire a harmonious maturity. Very fine soil variations, even between two neighboring parcels, result in differences in the quality and typicity of the wines.
The AOC is located a few kilometers north of Libourne, in the jewel box formed by its prestigious neighbors Pomerol and Saint-Emilion. It extends its 1200 hectares of vineyards on terraces made tertiary deposits alluvial.
Under our feet are ancient seabed forming a huge limestone plateau, virgin territory cut for three million years by rivers and streams that still flow today. These rivers carried a multiplicity of stones, pebbles and other sediments of variable size and thus shaped the terroirs of Bordeaux and in particular of the right bank. Each river brought with it the minerals of its land of origin (the Dordogne of the Massif Central, the Garonne of the Pyrenees), depositing first in its way the largest sediments.
Each of them is at the origin of the superb diversity of Bordeaux wines.
The choice of varieties planted by the winemaker is dictated in large part by the match between their vegetative cycle and the local climate. You have to mature at the right time.
Too early, the temperatures are still high and can compromise the smooth progress of winemaking.
Too late, the sunshine becomes insufficient to perfect the ripening of the fruits.
Our grape varieties
Merlot
Merlot has found its place in Lalande de Pomerol which devotes 75% of its surfaces. An early and delicate variety, it will arrive here at optimum maturity in mid-September. It is recognizable by its rather loose grapes with round grains and large, very cut leaves. Merlot classically brings to Lalande de Pomerol wines their characteristic charm and finesse. It is on the terroirs of gravels, mineral and filtering par excellence, that it will express its greatest aromatic diversity.
L’un de ses principaux traits de caractère : merveilleux de diversité.
One of his main traits: wonderful diversity.
This diversity will be the palette of expression of each winemaker who will be able at each step of the vinification to build the table of his own wine.The other traditional grape varieties of Libournais are also used to be blended with Merlot.
Cabernet Franc
Less precocious and acclaimed for its frame and its very rich bouquet, it represents 15% of the surfaces of the appellation.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Matures later and appreciated for its color and aroma full-bodied, very bouquet, and for its aptitude for aging, it is present at 10% in the appellation.
