| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > Pomerol |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
This 1.6 hectare vineyard is owned by the family of the late Catherine Péré-Vergé (of Chateau Le Gay) although 0.3 hectares are not currently in production. Only a few hundred cases of luxurious Pomerol are made here annually. The property is situated in between Le Pin and Trotanoy, and planted with 100% Merlot from 50 year old vines. The fruit is de-stemmed by hand by 50 people with micro-vinification and elevage in 100% new oak.
One of my favorite wines (although it's hard to find), La Violette makes a rich, sexy, yet always elegant and seamless style of Pomerol. Their 2019 Château La Violette is deep purple-hued and offers an incredible perfume of blue fruits, iron, tobacco, spice box, flowers, and loamy earth. Full-bodied on the palate, it shows the pure, elegant style of the vintage, has beautiful tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. There's lots of creamy background oak that needs time to integrate, but this is another remarkable release from this team. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following 20-25.
From a site with soils richer in clay that's planted with more Merlot, the 2019 La Violette is even more powerful than its stablemate Le Gay. Offering up aromas of plum preserve, strawberry liqueur, loamy soil, burning embers, spices and dark chocolate, it's full-bodied, thick and textural, with a rich, muscular profile and a broad, heady finish. This is a ripe, powerful wine that privileges impact over finesse, but it will give plenty of pleasure for admirers of the style. - Drink 2021-2039
From: Bordeaux 2019: The Southwold Tasting (Feb 2023)
The 2019 La Violette has a well-defined nose with black fruit, pencil box, truffle and incense aromas, tight at first but blossoming with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with plusher tannins than the Le Gay. Well defined with a keen thread of acidity, this is concentrated on the finish with a long black pepper infused aftertaste. Backward in style, but it will reward patience. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
- By Neal Martin on January 2023
Drink 2026-2050
An opulent red with blackberry, licorice, cola and vanilla undertones. It’s full-bodied with polished tannins that are very fine-textured. It’s long and linear with energy. Try after 2026.
The 2019 La Violette, 100% Merlot, is deep garnet-purple colored. It needs a little coaxing to bring our notions of black raspberries, kirsch, and warm plums, plus suggestions of cinnamon stick, cedar, and underbrush. The full-bodied palate is elegantly styled, refreshing, and beautifully restrained, delivering very fine tannins and a mineral-laced finish.
Signature Pomerol in spades. The tannins are fierce at this point, closed in a fist around the fruits, but there is the most deliciously precise bitter chocolate shavings set against plump damson fruits, and tightly drawn cassis berries. Brilliant quality. Tons of potential, cooling eucalyptus freshness. Vignobles Péré Vergé.
Tasted blind. Very sweet indeed – flattering and exotic. Dry finish but lots of drama! 15%
Drink 2027– 2040
The wine is as always 100% Merlot in 2019, with a yield of 30hl/ha that will produce a tiny 5,000 bottles. The grapes were harvested between 17th September and 1st October. The abv is 14.5%. Deep purple in colour with a rich and evocative nose of violets, blueberries and deep cassis, accented by sweet vanilla and cinnamon. The palate is opulent and fleshy, one of blueberry doughnuts and sweet morello cherries. Despite this ripeness, there is a fresh, floral purity and bright acidity. The tannins are very glossy and ripe, offering a cashmere texture and further promoting the chocolatey, indulgent intensity of the fruit core. Dropdead gorgeous, but still harmonious, with a very long finish.
The 2019 La Violette offers typical ravishing scents of blueberry, crème de cassis and violet (of course), modern yet irresistible and well-defined, and better than in previous years. The palate is medium-bodied, fleshy yet balanced, with supple tannins, copious, lightly spiced red fruit and a pure, concentrated finish. A delicious Pomerol that offers hedonic pleasure. 2024 - 2050
The 2019 La Violette bursts out of the blocks with a smorgasbord of lush black cherry and blueberry fruit swathed in new oak, well defined and focused with incense and Clementine scents emerging with aeration. The palate is bright and fresh on the entry. The new oak here is nearly folded into the mostly black fruit laced with graphite (you might be duped into thinking there is a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend!) Long in the mouth, this is a less flashy and more classically styled La Violette that should give 30 years of pleasure. Excellent. 2024 - 2050
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 La Violette comes bounding out with bold scents of baked plums, boysenberry preserves, and Christmas cake with suggestions of mocha, spice box, and mossy bark. The palate is rich, full-bodied, and wonderfully spicy, with tons of ripe black fruits and earthy layers enveloped by plush tannins, finishing with epic length.
Very deep purple-black colored, the 2019 La Violette flaunts a stunning nose of Black Forest cake, red roses, blueberry preserves and prunes with hints of black tea, cinnamon toast, Sichuan pepper and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is beautifully poised with firm, ripe tannins and lovely freshness supporting the fragrant black fruit layers, finishing long and spicy.
