2017 Petrus

I forgot to book an appointment at Petrus this year and only realized as I embarked upon my Right Bank tour and noticed the omission. I compensated by making two visits and glad I did so since the first visit did reveal a sample that “sung” of Petrus. It was only my second visit in mid-April where I found the Petrus that I know and love. “It was a strange year,” Olivier Berrouet explained. “There was a big frost that we avoided thanks to the topography and the wind turbines that increased the temperature by 2° Celsius. We had 100mm of rain in June and then there was a long drought with around one-third of the regular rainfall. Then there was some rain in early September, just 15mm, that helped the old vines to restart the cycle and finish the maturation. The difficulty was to find the ripeness for each block so we spread the harvest from 8 to 28 September, starting with the young vines as those blocks were done, even after the rain. Afterwards, we stopped and then started again with the old blocks. We cropped at 35hl/ha. The perception of the maturity was strange because the numbers suggested the fruit was ripe but we were not happy with the tannins and aromas. So you had to wait until you perceived perfect maturity by tasting the grapes and juice. Sometimes when you pressed the skins you saw it was not perfectly ripe. So, that is why we waited until the last moment without obtaining over-maturity or green taste. We had to be patient but we had to be quick. The size of the berry was small, just 1.1gm instead of 1.4 or 1.5gm so tannin potential was high. Therefore, at the start of the vinification, we did some pumping over for four or five days, then stopped and just wetted the cap. That resulted in a longer maceration period but we were moving less wine. The alcohol was high like in 2015 at around 14.7°. It is matured in 50% new oak and the rest almost two-years old. I think it is an original in terms of aromas, especially for its floral notes.”

Whenever I visit Petrus during en primeur I put the history, reputation, price and the sheer affability of Olivier Berrouet to one side, examine the wine in the glass and judge not only its perceived attributes, but where it might stand within the pantheon of other vintages. What do you expect from such a wine? First and foremost it must be identifiable as Petrus however, initially it came across a little Saint-Émilion-like in style. Returning a few days later, not unlike Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, I encountered a different wine, one that had “woken up” in the previous days, become more linear and gained backbone. As I remarked to Berrouet, this was a more “serious” Petrus, which is what I am looking for at this stage. There is part of me that desires more modest alcohol levels. Petrus was long regarded as a relatively early-picked Pomerol, the antithesis of the late-picked Right Banks, once all the rage. The harvest dates are no later than its peers, therefore it might be a combination of its unique terroir (smectite clay) and vineyard husbandry that impels the team to wait for full ripeness, but in doing so, accepting higher alcohol levels than before. That said though, I would not rank it in the admittedly crowded top-tier of wines from the estate, it is a wonderful Pomerol and...phew...reassuringly “Petrus”.