Chateau L'Evangile, Pomerol 2019

A well-articulated wine with elegance and serious expression of place. The 16% Cabernet Franc (alongside 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, the first year in the blend) gives such an enticing nose, so perfumed - you really get a nose full of flowers here which I love. There's depth on the palate straight away - it's concentrated but comes across in layers as opposed to overt volume or voluptuousness. Tannins are sleek and well integrated and there’s spice-edged blackcurrant, red and black cherries, plums, liquorice, cedar and cinnamon nuances. There’s succulence to the acidity, which is fresh and cooling, and clear opulence throughout, but it’s still quite shy, just showing signs of life. A sophisticated wine with a long future.

Lots of black-olive, crushed-berry and wet-earth aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, yet polished with a very fine, velvety texture from the tannins. It’s long and structured with a blue-fruit and stone undertone to the palate. Some sage, too. More balanced than in the past. Extremely persistent on the palate. 83.5% merlot, 16% cabernet franc and 0.5% cabernet sauvignon.

Pencil lead and graphite reduction on the first nose, with turmeric and white pepper spice. This is delicious, less effortlessly exuberant than it was En Primeur, when the backbone was hidden by baby fat, and the oak is dominant right now. Inky in colour, as it opens you get gorgeous strokes of cocoa bean, damson and espresso, this is powerful and concentrated, but I get a flash of heat that hardens the tannins on the finish. Last year under Jean-Pascal Vazart, and the first to have Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1st wine (in 2018 it was in Blason, and made a particularly structured 2nd wine). 70% new oak (lowering from 2020 with the addition of amphoras and larger sized oak casks).

A rocking bouquet of blue fruits, dark chocolate, damp earth, and violet emerges from the 2019 Château L'Evangile, a slightly fresher yet still deep, concentrated expression of this château. Full-bodied, with beautiful tannins, a great mid-palate, and certainly no shortage of length on the finish, it has the silky, seamless style of the vintage, yet I'd still give bottles a solid 7-8 years in a cold cellar. It's a slightly changed style but still gorgeous.

The 2019 L'Evangile is very good, wafting from the glass with aromas of cherries, sweet berries, warm spices, violets and loamy soil, framed by a nicely integrated patina of new oak that reflects a concerted effort to refine cooperage choices at this address in recent years. Full-bodied, rich and velvety, it's a broad, textural wine with a richly layered core of fruit, succulent acids and ripe, supple tannins that reflects the warm, dry vintage. As usual, it's a Merlot-dominant blend, complemented by some 16% Cabernet Franc and now 1% Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2019 L'Évangile is tasted from two bottles, the first hideously corked. The second has a well-defined bouquet with blackberry, wild strawberry and truffle. A welcome briny note becomes more pronounced with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fleshy and pure. A sweet core of fruit with an almost candied and very flattering finish. A bit evolved? Wonder how long-term it is though? Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

The 2019 L'Évangile is a highly problematic wine. Whether that is a result of excessive heat stress in the vineyard or decisions made in the field and the cellar, is hard to say. I thought élevage would bring the wine together. Instead, time has only accentuated the awareness present in the en primeur sample. I don't think it is a surprise that a whole new team led by Juliette Couderc and Olivier Trégoat is now in charge. Couderc and Trégoat have worked together previously at the Rothschild family's Long Dai winery in China and seem quite determined in turning things around here. Let me be clear; that does not mean the former team is necessarily totally responsible for the 2019, as some of the decisions may have come from higher up. There is no way for an outsider to know, and in the end it doesn't really matter. What is obvious is that the 2019 L'Évangile is alcoholic, aggressive in its contours and disjointed in feel. It goes without saying that quality is far from where it should be. Even so, Saskia de Rothschild is passionate about her family's Pomerol estate and does not shy away from critiquing her own wines, so I am confident the 2019 will one day be regarded as a bump in the road.