Pomerol has no classification and almost no grand architecture — most of its famous names are farmhouses with a shed behind. Château de Sales is the exception: a proper seventeenth-century house set in a park, and at roughly forty-seven hectares the largest estate in the appellation. It has stayed in the same family line since the fifteenth century, which in Bordeaux terms is close to unheard of.
The vineyard lies in the north-west of Pomerol, on lighter, sandier soils than the clay plateau that made Pétrus famous a few hundred metres away. That has always given a rounder, gentler, Merlot-led wine that came round early rather than demanding twenty years in a cellar.
1974 was a difficult, rain-marked vintage across Bordeaux, and a wine of this sort was made to be drunk within a decade. That it has survived five is the whole point. A genuine Pomerol from a named estate, still under a hundred and fifty euro, half a century after it was bottled.
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Producer: Château de Sales
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Vintage: 1974
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Appellation: Pomerol AOC
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Format: 75cl
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Region: Bordeaux, France
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Style: Red
Where it is likely to be now. Built to be drunk young, so five decades on the wine is fragile and the bottle is sold as a collectible item.
Who it suits. Good for a 1974 birthday or anniversary on a sensible budget — a real Pomerol, a real fifty-two years, and no showing off.
Condition. The holding cellar grades the bottle as good for its age; our own inspection and photographs of the level and label reach you before dispatch.
Provenance. Bought to order from a professional European merchant. We check fill, label and capsule when the bottle reaches us and photograph it before it ships.
Delivered in 7 to 10 working days, tracked. Transit cover can be added at checkout.
Sold as a collectible item, as seen. No guarantee is given on drinkability.
