Petrus Pomerol 2013 750ml

This wine is ripe, juicy and already showing its concentration and depth. It showcases the fruit of the year, deliciously fresh while having a velvet tannic structure. The acidity will continue to keep the wine fresh, allowing the structure to develop slowly. It sings with great fruit and good potential. Drink from 2022. (Cellar Selection)

The difficulties of the vintage are hardly evident here. Very deep in colour, the wine is dense and opulent on the nose, with black cherry aromas. It's ripe and solid, rich and very concentrated, showing ample force and extraction. For 2013 it's powerful and has some grandeur and is quite unlike the other Pomerols here. Spicy, imposing and long.

Very fine and structured with ultra-fine tannins. Medium bodied with beautiful density and texture. It has length and grip for the vintage. Better in 2020.

The 2013 Petrus is medium garnet in color. It rolls out with expressive notions of black cherry compote, cassis, rose oil, and licorice, followed by suggestions of spice cake, fertile loam, and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is laden with youthful red and black fruit layers, supported by fine-grained tannins and compelling tension, finishing long and fragrant. This is a triumph for this vintage!

This has excellent energy for the vintage, with a brambly, well-embedded spine that clearly drives the core of raspberry coulis, bitter plum and bright cherry preserves. Ample spice flickers through the finish, with a judicious hint of singed apple wood for nuance. This fleshes out steadily in the glass too, showing rare depth for the vintage. A great effort. Best from 2018 through 2028. 1,665 cases made.

The 2013 Petrus was bottled in June 2015, a month before I visited the property to taste with winemaker, Olivier Berrouet. "The idea was to not push too much," he told me. "We didn't use too much wood - around 45% new oak. It would be 55% in a good vintage. The pH is 3.55 and it has 13.5% alcohol." It has quite a deep colour for a 2013, very clear and lucid. The nose is undeniably very attractive, gently unfolding with black cherries, iodine, pot pourri and a touch of bilberry. The aromatics are gentle and unassuming, yet still very Pomerol and still very Petrus. The palate is medium-bodied and for a 2013 it is certainly well structured, the tannins imparting a grainy mouthfeel. At the moment it feels saline in the mouth, fresh and with absolutely no sign of greenness. It is a successful wine within the context of the 2013 vintage and I appreciated the sharpness on what you might call its "clinical" finish. There is not so much in the way of persistence here and it departs out the exit door swiftly rather than abruptly. No, it is not the best Petrus ever made, not by a long chalk, nevertheless it is undoubtedly better than off-vintages in the past such as the 1986 and 1996. Tasted July 2016.

Bright, dark ruby. Captivating, extremely pure aromas of fresh blackcurrant, mocha, gunflint and violet. Precise and multilayered, with small dark berry flavors given clarity and cut by lively, harmonious acidity. The finish is complex and very long. Lighter than usual but extremely pure and perfumed, this knockout wine has silkier, smoother tannins than any other 2013 Bordeaux. When I visited Petrus in July 2013, the horrible growing season had Olivier Berrouet fretting like I had never seen before, but he can be proud of what he has achieved in this difficult vintage. Making a great Petrus in outstanding years like 2009 or 2010 is expected, so in some respects this is Berrouet's best wine yet.