Petrus: Vineyards
Petrus is located on the Pomerol plateau, very close to the Chemin de Chantecaille which runs along the top of the appellation vaguely parallel with the Barbanne. The château, recently heavily restored (more like rebuilt, such was the extent of the work) sits to one side of the Route de Lussac which runs from Vieux Château Certan and across the Chemin de Chantecaille and the Barbanne, heading off into Néac. Behind and around the château sit the vineyards. On the other side of the road to the northwest are the vines of Château Lafleur, to the southwest are the vines of Vieux Château Certan, while behind and wrapping around the Petrus vines are the vineyards of Château La Conseillante, Château L’Évangile, Château Gazin and Château Lafleur-Gazin.
The original Petrus vineyard covered a little more than 6.5 hectares until, as I have described in my profile of Château Gazin, the financially beleaguered Etienne de Bailliencourt was forced to sell 5 hectares in order to settled inheritance taxes. The Moueix family bought the vines, and as a consequence from 1969 onwards the Petrus vineyard has accounted for approximately 11.5 hectares of the Pomerol appellation. Such an acquisition is bound to cause eyebrows to raise; after all, how can the quality be maintained when the vineyard doubles in size overnight? This was a question addressed by David Peppercorn writing in Bordeaux (Faber & Faber, second edition, 1991). Moueix reported to Peppercorn that of the five vats produced each vintage, three would come from the original Petrus vineyard, whereas two came from the purchased vines. When ranked one to five in order of merit he claimed that the wine from the purchased vines never came last.
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