Sacre Coeur, Pomerol, 2021

This 100% Merlot is made as a micro-project and perfectionist's quest by Jean-Philippe Janoueix with the intention that it will show purist wine-lovers just how good this grape variety in Pomerol can be.

36-year-old vines planted at extremely dense concentration of 6,600 plants per hectare, the grapes are entirely hand-harvested with a traditional fermentation, as one would expect. The maturation takes place in only one type of barrel, 33% of which are new, the barrels coming from the renowned Darnajou cooperage.

Gravel and sandy soils form the minuscule 1.5-hectare vineyard, situated right next to the vines of La Croix Saint Georges. These vines yielding as he says himself "micro-production levels, means that the wine is almost unobtainable: only three to five thousand bottles are produced each year, so your devotees must beg to even make it onto our waiting list." 

It delivers impressively with a dark fruit nose, and inviting, fine tension. The layers of flavours move through crushed blackberries, blackcurrants, red berries, blueberry, licorice and sweet spices to vanilla and lilac. The palate is broad, weighty and balanced with a sensational structure built on supple tannins and an acid backbone, with concentrated fruit flavours and a brilliant tension. The generous spices linger in the palate but it is really about the quality of fruit flavour and its structure, which lead to a wonderfully long and concentrated finish.

Situated between Le Pin, Petit Village and Petrus, its small 4.5 hectare site is right in the middle of Pomerol's famed plateau, giving the grapes unparalleled intensity and depth from the hydric stress that this micro-climate brings. this wine then comes from just one specific corner of the property and is very much a concept of what Jean-Philippe thinks about Merlot, Pomerol and the 21st-Century.

Jean-Philippe is the fourth generation of the Janoueix family to be in the wine business. The family originated from the region of Correze to the east of Bordeaux and Bergerac and just south of the oak forests of Limoges, famed for their barrel-making timber. 

Jean Janoueix established a wine business in Bordeaux in 1867 and his son, Joseph, was the instigator of the plan to buy their own grapes, which then became vineyards and then properties, with Château La Croix Saint Georges and Château la Croix in Pomerol and Saint Emilion respectively in the 1930s. His son Jean-François was to continue this growth with significant purchases during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. our man Jean-Philippe joined his father in 1994 with his first vintage, and his own plans, purchasing Chatea Chambrun in Lalande de Pomerol. he turned this property into the benchmark for quality in Lalande before selling it in 2007. This interestingly seems to be a very normal practice of trading, investing and re-investing in properties to renew and replenish ones portfolio. Not quite the world in which we live, but that's ok too...