Chateau de Sales is a decidedly old-school producer in an appellation that we simply love: Pomerol.

Pomerol, neighbor to St. Emilion, is known above all else for being the home of Petrus. It is at Petrus that the most expensive and sought-after Merlot-based wines are produced from anywhere in the world. Petrus took what was several decades ago an off-the-radar backwater – what Flatiron Wines, had we been around, might have described as a secret source of good value back in the day! – and turned it into an internationally-recognized AOC producing seriously good, and normally quite expensive, wine.

De Sales is….not like Petrus. It is a very very old estate. The same family has owned it since the 1400s! They make wines in an old-school fashion: not much new oak is used, and there is very little flash. For years, frankly, the wine was not quite at the normal Pomerol level, and it was often the cheapest available option in the marketplace.

Recent years have been another story altogether. The spread of knowledge through consultants, and the infusion of cash from higher prices, has really upped the game of producers across the region – especially those that can boast a famous name like Pomerol. De Sales has gotten a lot better. No, recent vintages are still no Petrus, but they do offer the elegance, the perfume, the sensuality, and the iron-like minerality that we have come to expect from great Pomerol.

The 2019 is a superb example. The wine is still young, of course, but we’ve already derived great joy from this wine after giving it a one hour decant. Of course, it will give pleasure for many more years to come.

And the price? Still decidedly un-Petrus like:

Chateau de Sales Pomerol 2019 - $44.99
"The 2019 De Sales has a deep garnet-purple color, rolling effortlessly out of the glass with impressively intense baked cherries, plum preserves and fruitcake scents with nuances of potpourri, licorice, chocolate box and fragrant earth. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock-full of ripe, seductive black fruit preserves, framed by rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and perfumed." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown