2016 Château Gombaude-Guillot Pomerol Grand Vin

I don’t know if it’s the 2016 vintage—considered one of Bordeaux’s greatest of the last decade—or if this wine is in a particularly prime place, but it’s the best bottle of Gombaude-Guillot I’ve ever tasted. This stunning red is so fine I can make out a variety of spices on the nose, like milled white pepper, nutmeg, and clove. The blend is largely Merlot with just a hint of Cabernet Franc, but the latter seems to dominate; I smell stone slabs and ripe bell pepper. En bouche, this wine tastes like a bouquet of violets, a suggestion I only presume to know because I’ve tried those chalky Choward’s candies. But now I imagine that violets taste like Pomerol, which is a much more appealing prospect.

—Jane Augustine

In the heart of the Pomerol plateau, on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, the vineyards of Château Gombaude-Guillot have been a family property for so long that the current generation doesn’t even know when they were first acquired. The Bélevier family was already well established asvigneronsin Pomerol and Néac when this property was passed down to Marie Bélevier as a dowry in 1868. The “château” itself, which was originally a café where the locals would gather for a drink after church services, was added to the property in 1922. Today, Claire Laval, Marie’s great-granddaughter, runs the estate. Claire started her career as an agronomist, specializing in soils best suited for cattle, and had no formal training in viticulture. It is through viticulture, though, that she has refined her expertise in soil management, learning from her own work in the vineyards. Though the estate is already certified organic, she is now pursuing the more stringent requirements of biodynamics. Her dedication to the environment even extends to using local oak for the wines’élevage. Claire’s reputation among her peers also speaks volumes of her capabilities and work ethic: in 1991, she and only one other woman were inducted into the Confrerie des Hospitaliers de Pomerol, a first in this traditionally all-male wine fraternity.