Draw a line along the eastern edge of L'Évangile and you are touching Pétrus; carry on north and you reach Cheval Blanc. There are only around fourteen hectares here, on the gravel-and-clay plateau where Pomerol makes its most serious wine, and in 1971 the estate was still owned by the Ducasse family — the Rothschilds of Lafite did not take a stake until 1990.
Pomerol has no classification, no ladder of grand crus, just reputation and soil. L'Évangile is Merlot-dominated with a good measure of Cabernet Franc, and its wines are richer and rounder in youth than anything from the Médoc, then slower to fade than that softness suggests.
1971 was a small, ripe vintage that favoured the Right Bank, and this is one of the addresses that made the most of it. Bottles have been drunk steadily for fifty years; the ones still standing survive largely by the accident of a good cellar.
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Producer: Château L'Évangile
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Vintage: 1971
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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. Right Bank wines of 1971 were richer than most and this fill level is excellent, so the odds are better than average, though a fifty-five-year-old Pomerol is always a gamble taken willingly.
Who it suits. The bottle for a fifty-fifth birthday where the recipient knows Pomerol and would rather have a neighbour of Pétrus than another Médoc name.
Condition. The label is slightly soiled from lying in a cellar bin, and the wine reaches the base of the neck, which is an excellent fill for a bottle of this age.
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.
