Tasting Notes
Situated on the Pomerol / Lalande de Pomerol border with Château Pétrus just across the river Barbanne, Château Tournefeuille benefits from a hill-top position and the best clay and gravel soils of the region. This means its Lalande de Pomerol is powerful and its tannins soft (not sure where JancisRobinson.com is coming from with its sandpaper tannins but they did taste it 4 years ago). Run by the Petit family the Château practises sustainable agriculture including traditional ploughing and manual harvesting. The vines are c. 30 years old.
Château Tournefeuille is considered a classic wine of the Lalande de Pomerol region, a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc for the 2016 vintage, with red berry & cassis aromas and flavours and a floral note on the nose. If it appears a little closed on the nose at first, decant it or give the wine in your glass a good swirl. The wine feels silky smooth in the mouth, desnse and full of mature black fruit flavours plus some minerality and it is developing more savoury and coconut notes as it ages. The texture is divine, a very elegant and balanced wine.
Food Pairing
Recommended with steak, beef casseroles, lamb, chicken, turkey and smooth enough to have with pork dishes also. Also good with cheese, tomato-based dishes, mushrooms, roast vegetables etc. At Christmas, Left bank Bordeaux can be too tannic for low fat meat but this right bank Bordeaux with softer tannins is the perfect accompaniment to turkey or roast beef and, given that it is still very fruity, would work well with goose or duck.
Awards
16 points JancisRobinson.com Apr 2016
“Light nose. Lots of ripe fruit and black pepper. Sandpaper tannins. Not one of the most concentrated wines but nicely balanced.”
91 points Wine Enthusiast Jan 2019
"Dominated by ripe black-fruited Merlot, this wine is rich and concentrated. Licorice and dark-chocolate flavors indicate some extraction but it is subdued by the black-plum flavors. Drink from 2021."
Christian Martray, Sommelier
“… a very well-balanced wine with an intense and velvety fruitiness like a coulis, subtle oaky, a Lalande de Pomerol that has one of the best price-to-pleasure ratios of any Bordelais wine.”
