Château Picoron

The en primeur campaign for the 2022 vintage got underway in Bordeaux this week, and by all accounts some spectacular wines have been made. While Bordeaux can be considered the epitome of tradition (and expense!) in the world of wine, there are still some particularly exciting things happening in pockets of the region if you know where to look. Enter Château Picoron...

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Everything about Château Picoron is unexpected in the context of Bordeaux. Viticulture is organic and biodynamic. Sulphur is either not used at all, or used with the lightest touch. Oak is barely appreciable and the presentation is distinctly avant-garde rather than traditional. Winemaker Camille Lanyou vinifies plot by plot, without blending, to produce only a few hundred cases a year.

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This reads almost like a manifesto against Bordeaux rather than the introduction to one of its most exciting new labels, and yet Picoron is just that.

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The wines themselves are a joy to taste, with vibrant acidity - silky, clean and direct - and probably the most drinkable Bordeaux that we’ve ever tasted at a young age. They have found a home in cutting edge Parisian restaurants and wine bars, but more surprisingly also in the wine bars of Bordeaux itself, where this fresh approach has been eagerly welcomed.

 

The final triumph… compared to any other quality Bordeaux, they are a total bargain.

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Château Picoron is a single 4.3ha estate on the famous clay limestone St Emilion ridge. Just one grape is planted - Merlot - and six different single plot expressions are bottled with the goal of creating a new conversation about Bordeaux, shaking the conformity and rigidity of the region.

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A genuinely different and delicious take on Bordeaux, these are wines to enjoy now and over the next few years. A pleasantly moreish way to pass the decades until the traditional 2022's will be entering their peak drinking windows!