France · Bordeaux · Pauillac
Pauillac AOC
The Médoc's most powerful, structured, and long-lived Cabernet-based reds: dense cassis fruit wrapped in firm tannin, with the commune's hallmark graphite/pencil-lead minerality and cedar-tobacco maturity.
Terroir
Deep, well-drained gravel banks (Günz gravel) over clay and limestone subsoils, deposited by the Garonne; the gravel stores heat and forces vines to root deeply.
Low gravel rises (croupes) between the Gironde estuary and the pine forests; the estuary moderates temperature.
The poor, warm, free-draining gravel is ideal for late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which dominates blends here more than in any other Médoc commune.
Structure tendencies
- body
- medium-plus to full
- tannin
- medium-plus to high
- acidity
- medium to medium-plus
- alcohol
- medium
- finish
- long in classed growths
tendencies in prose, as read by critics/consensus — not measured ordinals
Classic descriptors
cassis
in your cellar: 12 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Feytit-Clinet 2015Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020Château Gloria 2022Château Gloria 2020Château Laroque 2022Château Pontet-Canet 2022blackberry
in your cellar: 11 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020Château Larmande 2005Château Gloria 2022Château Gloria 2020Château Pontet-Canet 2022plum
in your cellar: 14 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Feytit-Clinet 2015Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019Château Larmande 2005Bodegas Manzanos Gran Reserva Rioja 2015Château Gloria 2022Château Gloria 2020Château Laroque 2022Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2010Massolino Barolo 2016Château Pontet-Canet 2022violet
in your cellar: 13 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Feytit-Clinet 2015Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020Bodegas Manzanos Gran Reserva Rioja 2015Château Gloria 2022Château Laroque 2022Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2010Massolino Barolo 2016Château Pontet-Canet 2022graphite
in your cellar: 12 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Feytit-Clinet 2015Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020Château Gloria 2022Château Gloria 2020Château Laroque 2022Château Pontet-Canet 2022crushed gravel
in your cellar: 5 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Gloria 2020Château Pontet-Canet 2022cedar
in your cellar: 9 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020Château Gloria 2022Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2010Château Pontet-Canet 2022toast
in your cellar: 3 bottlesChâteau Feytit-Clinet 2015Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Château Gloria 2020cigar box
in your cellar: 4 bottlesChâteau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Château Gloria 2020tobacco
in your cellar: 13 bottlesLes Forts de Latour 2017Château Pontet-Canet 2021Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019Château Larmande 2005Bodegas Manzanos Gran Reserva Rioja 2015Château Gloria 2022Château Gloria 2020Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2010Massolino Barolo 2016Château Pontet-Canet 2022Graphite ('pencil lead') is Pauillac's signature association — a classical tasting-tradition pattern for gravel-grown Cabernet, not literal mineral uptake (see docs/wine-pedagogy.md §3).
Classification
Heart of the 1855 Grand Cru Classé system: Pauillac holds three of the five First Growths (Latour, Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild) plus fifteen other classed growths.