Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

In the heart of Pomerol. Never heard of it till suggested by retailer at $40. Apparently a better vintage in Pom than St Em (depending on the wine). Deep purple/brown core,
with garnet rim. Dusty nose with blue/black fruits. Hints of currants. Cherry-like taste, tart, textural but not overly ripe. Supporting but not aggressive tannins. A decent Pom
but in no way a great one. More cellar time seems wise but will wine get better? Posting this in case some follow this chateau. JM

I've seen this at retail, usually on sale in a pile of cases on an end. It's been OK in what should have been great years. This gets back to the reason Bob Parker came to the fore back in the day - retailers pushing mediocre wines, usually with either "It's every bit as good as XYZ for half the price" or "It's from Pomerol, who would bother to import a mediocre Pomerol?"

I think you pretty much nailed it although there is bound to be some who think it is worth the price. Didn't look at any reviews.

I respect the sentiment here but have a couple of observations. Never had the wine but have heard of it. Hugh Johnson mentioned it in his Encyclopedia of Wine as a respected or earnest property if not an exalted one.

Next, is it OK for some wines to be just OK? I mean pleasant, serviceable and goes down nicely with food. We do agree that not all wines can be great, right? I mean there is this school of thought that terroir is a limiting factor to how good a wine can be, and even in a place as small already as Pomerol it's pretty widely acknowledged that the sometimes great wines come from a very small portion of that place (which Cabanne is to the west of that clayey spot if I recall). Yes it is also true that some people have had success especially on the right bank making "impactful" wines from unexalted terroirs but I think for every two or three people that go for them you have one or more JimHow types who swear they'll fall apart in three or five years.

Bear in mind that I'm a guy who expects great things out of my $20 Bdx, so I won't apologize for a $40 bottle that's weak sauce, if that's how this is. On the other hand $40 is not buying any more "great" Bdx, I think we can agree on that for the most part.

Good points, AAaHs. Pomerol will always be expensive due to the small size of the appellation and never gets near the $20 price point unless we include Lalande-de-Pomerol.

$40 can buy very good wine - at the price point, I think de Sales and Rouget both offer more "Pomerol-ness" than my experience with La Cabanne.

I agree with Tom that de Sales and Rouget are very good "budget" Pomerols.