Pauillac Wine

Pauillac is an important commune and red wine appellation of the Haut-Medoc district of Bordeaux, located between Saint-Estephe and Saint-Julien on the western (left) bank of the Gironde estuary.

The stellar reputation of Pauillac wines is founded not only on their quality, but on their historical success in international markets. The 1855 Classification of the Medoc ranked the best chateaux of the area according to the average prices commanded by their wines. Two of the top five were in Pauillac: Chateaux Latour and Lafite-Rothschild. They were joined by Chateau Mouton-Rothschild in 1973, in an almost unprecedented addition to the ranking system, which is still in force today.

Just as Mouton and Lafite are both owned by the Rothschild family, so Pauillac's two second-growth producers were also once a single entity: Chateau Pichon-Longueville. At some point before 1855, this property was divided by the intricacies of France's Napoleonic inheritance laws, giving rise to the Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande and Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron. The word 'baron' was recently removed from the name of the second chateau.

The soils of Pauillac are largely made up of free-draining gravel, which is ideal for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. These soils, when combined with the temperate Bordeaux climate, are the starting point for Pauillac's high-quality wines.

Overall, the terroir of Pauillac varies more than might be expected in an area of only nine square miles (23 square km), where the land rises and falls by a maximum of 100ft (30m). Over hundreds of vintages, the chateaux and their winemakers have become very skilled at emphasizing the individuality of their vineyards, and there is general agreement that the styles of the top three chateaux are discernibly different. Overall, however, there is still an identifiable Pauillac style: full, rich and characterized by the classic cassis and cedarwood aromas of oak-aged Cabernet Sauvignon.

The appellation laws for Pauillac are extremely specific in terms of vineyard location. Any plot of land within the Pauillac commune qualifies for the tile, unless it is composed of sandy, alluvial or impermeable soils. Certain plots may also be used in the communes of Cissac, Saint-Saveur and – perhaps surprisingly – Saint-Julien and Saint-Estephe. While Cabernet Sauvignon is the predominant grape variety by far, Cabernet Franc, Merlot , Carmenere, Petit Verdot and Malbec are also permitted.