HISTORY Chateau l'Evangile has a distinguished history of stunning vintages and produces wines of great depth. The late, passionately devoted Louis Ducasse administered the estate for many years, and his formidable wife Madame Ducasse continued the tradition with equal fervor well into her 90's. Realizing the chateau's unlimited potential, the Rothschild family (of Lafite-Rothschild) purchased a controlling interest in the estate in 1990.
VINIFICATION The 35 acre vineyard is brilliantly situated on deep gravelly soil mixed with clay and sand. Late harvesting lowers yields (to under 475 gallons per acre, or 45 hectoliters per hectare) but produces rich, concentrated wines. The proportion of new oak barrels used for aging runs to 50% or even higher.
STYLE The outstanding Chateau l'Evangile has one of the best reputations in Pomerol, which it well deserves. The mature wine shows a rich, full-bodied nose of black fruits (plums and blackberries), chocolate, toffee, and roasted herbs. The complex bouquet accompanies a medium acidity typical of Merlot-based wines and ripe, plush flavors of compelling richness. Most vintages have strong tannins, giving Chateau l'Evangile one of Pomerol's best potential aging profiles of six to twenty-five or even more years following the vintage. A quality equivalent to that of a Medoc first growth gives this hard-to-find wine the potential to be one of the area's big stars even in lesser vintages.
