Pomerol

Two Roman roads crossed the plateau, but the vineyard developed only from the twelfth century, when the Knights Hospitaller of St John set up a commandery that sheltered pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Destroyed in the Hundred Years' War, it was rebuilt. A record of 7 May 1761 shows that the Libourne merchant Louis Léonard Fontemoing replanted his Pomerol vineyard from white grapes to Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Merlot in eight years; the historian Henri Enjalbert called it probably the first document on the modernisation of viticulture. After phylloxera Merlot became dominant. Merchants from Corrèze and the Libourne–Paris railway opened markets in northern France and Belgium. Growers formed a syndicate in 1900, a court fixed the limits of the name on 29 December 1928, and the decree of 8 December 1936 adopted them.

Pomerol covers the commune of Pomerol and the north of Libourne, bounded by the Barbanne stream to the north. The land is almost flat, sloping gently west towards the Isle. The river cut away the Tertiary limestone here and laid down north-south terraces of material from the Massif Central. The high Günz terrace, at 30–40 m, is sand, gravel and reddened pebbles over Tertiary clay rich in smectite; the middle Riss terraces at 20–25 m are sand, gravel and pebbles in a sandy-clay matrix; the slopes carry sandy-clay and gravelly colluvium. The climate is temperate oceanic, steadied by the meeting of the Isle and the Dordogne, with continental nuances: warmer summers and autumns that help the grapes ripen.

The specification describes red wines of intense colour and powerful nose, with black fruit and sometimes violet and truffle; they are ample and long, without hardness, elegant and balanced, and can age long in bottle. It names three ground factors: the Tertiary clay, a cool layer that slows ripening and regulates the vine's water supply; surface gravel, which drains and reflects light onto the leaves; and the iron-oxide subsoil, the crasse de fer, which brings specific minerals. Merlot shows best on gravel with a clay matrix, and Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon on the most gravelly soils.

Pomerol is red only, from Pomerol and part of Libourne. The grapes are Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec (here also called pressac) and Petit Verdot; Merlot covers about 80 % of the vineyard. The rules require at least 5,500 vines per hectare, a base yield of 49 hl/ha and ageing until at least 1 November of the year after the harvest; bringing in outside earth is banned, and grassed field margins are compulsory against erosion. The appellation is small, 813 ha and about 0.7 % of Bordeaux according to the Bordeaux wine council, shared among 138 growers; the specification counted 140 holdings averaging 6 ha in 2009. Pomerol has never drawn up an official classification. Its hierarchy is set by reputation and price.