2015 Petrus, Pomerol, Bordeaux

50% new oak

There is so much going on with Petrus in 2015 that you should just pull up a chair and relax; don't expect to be going anywhere soon. Aromatic persistency keeps reaching in, pulling you further alongside. The tannins have a soft quality that allows the black fruit to be both juicy and sweet. High alcohol is balanced by freshness - a pH of 3.5 is relatively rare on these sticky clay soils - unleashing waves of flavour, including bergamot, smoky tea, black olives and rich cherry. The persistency is crazy - I had to get my notes back out two or three times to take down additional flavours because it just kept giving something more. And it makes you smile! What more do you want?

Drink 2023 - 2040

The aromas to this are a reference for Pomerol, with truffles, black olives, black liquorice, dark fruit, and even brown sugar. It is full-bodied, layered, and multi-dimensional. Chocolate underlines the character above. The perfect tannin texture, length, and balance make you think you're dreaming. It is all about harmony and beauty. I would love to taste it now, but it needs at least five or six years.

When I asked winemaker Olivier Berrouet about his greatest challenges in 2015, he replied, Our biggest challenge is to avoid all the temptations you can have in the vineyard and in the cellar. You can go too far. With our job, if you go too far, you cant go back. Little steps are best. His comments eloquently explain the immense pressure of handling a seemingly pressure-less vintage like 2015 in Pomerol. But, with the devil in all the many details that are involved in the pursuit of wine perfection, if anyone has that devil by the horns, it is this incredibly talented young winemaker.

Drink 2024 - 2058

Tasted blind

Savoury and solid. Lots of nuance and a bit of alcohol. It just shuts down a bit on the end. Hot! A bit vegy. Fresh finish.

Drink 2024 - 2044

Powerful and brooding as a young wine from barrel, the 2015 Petrus has developed exquisite finesse and nuance to play off its natural concentration. Winemaker Oliver Berrouet has always spoken of small berry size as one of the signatures of 2015. To be sure, there is plenty of textural richness and overall intensity. At the same time, the 2015 exudes tons of freshness and vibrancy. Berrouet gave the 2015 18 months in French oak, 50% new. Quite simply, the 2015 is a stratospheric wine with a very bright future.

Drink 2025 - 2055

The best yet from winemaker Olivier Berrouet first vintage 2008). 30% of the crop was declassified. Lots of lift and energy. Lively aromatic expression with floral, dark fruit and liquorice notes. Palate ripe, juicy and refreshing, the texture smooth and polished. Structured attack and then great depth and persistence. Powerful but with charm.

2025 - 2050

This is an exceptional Petrus vintage, the architecture remains relatively tight, slate and pumice stone scrape, stunning layers of raspberry, grilled black cherries, leather and fennel. Savoury yet fully ripe, a beautiful sense of contrast, and just beginning to open up and show its potential. The bottle tasted in London was perhaps a little under par, holding things back, but I have a tasting from one month ago where it was showing exceptionally well.

Drink 2025 to 2044

Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

The 2015 Petrus has a fresh, detailed, yet quite understated bouquet of black fruit, pencil box, smoke and light tarry aromas - very succinct and classy. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, linear, and quite strict in style, which might explain why I knocked off a point compared to my note in January 2018. But it gently builds in intensity to a grippy, graphite-infused finish with that subtle Japanese seaweed tincture I observed previously. Classic in style, this will benefit from several years in bottle. Excellent.

Drink 2027 - 2055

The 2015 Chateau Petrus is undoubtedly one of the gems in the vintage and will probably merit a perfect score in another decade. Even so, it has the sexy, exotic nature of the vintage front and centre and offers a huge perfume of black currants, kirsch liqueur, Asian spices, and incense. As always, this beauty is 100% Merlot, brought up in 50% new wood in 2015. A wine that opens up beautifully with time in the glass, it has beautiful mid-palate depth, sweet, sweet tannins, and a voluptuous yet weightless texture that needs to be tasted to be believed. Hide bottles for 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 3-4 decades.

Drink 2023 - 2063