Notes & queries

Each month our experts answer readers’ wine queries and share their knowledge

Pomerol and price

In Andy Howard’s ‘My top 20 Bordeaux reds under £20’ (in July issue’s Bordeaux guide), he says: ‘Today, one can find decent St-Emilion and Pomerol for under £20.’ Can he tell us where to get ‘decent Pomerol’ for under £20? I’m sure a lot of us would be very interested. Anthony W Hill, by email

Andy Howard MW replies: Anthony, you’re quite right, to find decent AP Pomerol under £20 these days is not simple. Apologies that it was not expressed clearly, but my comments were primarily intended to relate to Lalande-dePomerol, where there are plenty of wines with a lot of similarity to their close neighbour, offering quality and competitive prices

Overall, the quality of the Bordeaux region’s wines – particularly at the lower and midlevels – has been transformed over the past few years, coinciding with some very good to great vintages. Consumers can now find very good wines under £20, particularly when considering the quality in Fronsac, the Bordeaux Côtes and ‘satellite’ appellations such as Puisseguin or Montagne St-Emilion, as well as Lalande-de-Pomerol.

Having said that, it is possible to find good Pomerol for a little more than £20, although you may need to buy by the case in-bond. Fine & Rare has Château Bellegrave 2014 at £15.17 per bottle in-bond (£20.88 duty/VAT paid) and Wine-searcher.com lists Château de Sales vintages from £22-£23 duty/VAT paid – a typical Pomerol wine at a good price. Lay & Wheeler is offering Château Chantalouette 2017 at £16ib (£21.88), while Majestic has an interesting purchase at £17.98 (if buying six bottles) in Domaine de Compostelle 2012, a property that lies adjacent to Château Clinet.

Alsace oddity

It is my understanding that a varietal wine produced in the EU must constitute a minimum 85% of the stated variety on the label. Why then can bottles of Alsace Pinot Blanc, and labelled as Pinot Blanc, have anything up to 100% Auxerrois in the blend, and still be sold as Pinot Blanc?

Keith Bond, Blackburn, Lancashire, UK

Yohan Castaing replies: Yes, within the EU, any wine that contains a minimum 85% of a stated grape variety may display its name on the label. From another angle, this means that if a grape variety is stated on a label, it must comprise at least 85% of the wine. However, there are some administrative subtleties.

Looking specifically at Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois, an age-old tradition held that the two grape varieties were informally given the same name. Many varieties of unknown origin or name planted in northeast France were customarily called ‘Auxerrois’. For example, it was not until 1872 that the difference between Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay was officially acknowledged. This centuries-old tradition has continued in Alsace, and the wine production specifications for the appellation took into account some traditional practices.

Thus, if the label mentions AP Alsace Pinot Blanc, the wine can be a 100% Pinot Blanc or a blend of Pinot Blanc and the real Auxerrois variety. If the wine is 100% Auxerrois, the producer can label it either as Auxerrois or Pinot Blanc. On the other hand, a 100% Pinot Blanc wine cannot use the name Auxerrois.

It should be noted that Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois are not in fact the same grape variety. The first had its origin as a genetic mutation in the colour of Pinot Gris, while Auxerrois derives from Pinot and Gouais

Blanc, a forgotten but prolific grape variety that had more than 80 progenies across Europe, including Chardonnay and Riesling.

Indeed, French appellation laws can hold many subtle administrative surprises.

New vine threat

I was planning to sneak back a few vine cuttings from a trip to France, but on my local radio gardening programme recently, they issued a serious warning not to bring back any plant material from Europe this year, as there is a bad problem with an infection called