The train took me on my final leg of my Bordeaux wine trip to the quaint station of St. Emilion, which is a twenty minute walk from the famous village that rises over 100m above the river Dordogne. We hired bikes, a great way to discover the gently undulating hills of St. Emilion and explore the differences between neighbouring Pomerol.

st-émilion

St. Emilion is one of the most famous wine villages of France, its renown going back to its connection with the Camino de Santiago which ends all the way in Atlantic Spain. As we got off the train, there were about forty tourists marching with us to the village; once there, it was extremely busy, bustling even early on a Monday morning, with lots of wine shops catering to the many visitors.

The fame of St. Emilion means it’s not always fully understood. At just under 5,500ha, it’s quite a large and confusing appellation: that bottle of St. Emilion on the wine list in the restaurant or at your local supermarket could change your wine life, or it could be quite ordinary. And within these varying levels of quality, there are subtly different styles according to soil types and a producer’s sensibility.

classifications

The first thing to get out of the way is the classification system in St. Emilion. It’s supposed to be reassessed every ten years—in comparison to Haut-Médoc which has barely changed since 1855—but this inevitably leads to lawsuits and stasis. On top of that, the classification system is quite confusing and not always helpful. 60% of St. Emilion is Grand Cru (which is its own separate appellation); however good the wines of St. Emilion are, nearly two-thirds of the region shouldn’t be considered Grand Cru. Furthermore, part of the assessment to qualify as a Grand Cru is the size of the winery’s car park, the tourism facilities, and communications and marketing strategies. All of these are important practical aspects, but have nothing to do with the quality of the wine.

The hierarchy continues with Grand Cru Classé (of which there are 64), Premier Grand Cru Classé (0f which there are eighteen), Premier Grand Cru Classé B, and Premier Grand Cru Classé A (of which there used to be four). This is where the lawsuits start, because being demoted to a “lesser” classification immediately lowers the price of the wine. It’s no wonder top producers Cheval Blanc, Ausone, and Angelus (which were all Grand Cru Classé A) have left the classification completely, having seen neighbours in Pomerol toddle along without any classification system whatsoever and still sell their wines for hundreds of euros.

soils

Due to the size of St. Emilion, there are lots of different soils which affect the character of the wine, and which isn’t really addressed by the classification system. Around the village, there are plateaux with clay and limestone soils for lively, fresh wines. To the north and west, the soils still have clay but also sand and gravel, and are similar to Pomerol which is just a stone’s throw away, producing fruity, elegant wines. To the south, on plains near the river, the soils are much sandier, while to the east the soils are clay-limestone or clay-sand. There are also north-facing slopes in St. Emilion which produce quite austere wines. All of which makes generalising about St. Emilion quite difficult, especially as the soils near Pomerol are very similar to the neighbouring appellation which makes differentiating St-Emilion from Pomerol problematic.

pomerol

Pomerol is much smaller, with 800ha of plantings, and an average holding of around 4.5ha. The best wines come from the plateau above the Dordogne, which is just over 30m in elevation, rising as high as 42m at Pétrus. There’s not that much difference between western St. Emilion and Pomerol, with clay and deep gravel soils. The eastern part of Pomerol’s plateau has blue clay, which is difficult for the vines’ roots to penetrate, also present in the western part of St-Emilion: for example, at Grand Corbin-Despagne, an eight minute bike ride from La Fleur-Pétrus, which I also visited, in Pomerol.

But even so, there is a difference between the wines. For instance, Grand Corbin-Despagne in St. Emilion had a tannic edge to it in comparison to the ripe, supple tannins of Lafleur-Pétrus. They shared a ripe, floral, herbal character, but the structure was subtly different.

However, Despagne are converting to biodynamics and as they are so close to Pomerol, farming practices may be more important than the appellation the winery falls under. The winery have noticed a difference in the tannic texture and acidic profile of the wines, which are more rounded and elegant since introducing organics and then biodynamics. Place matters (they’re near Cheval Blanc), as does soil (the first thing seventh-generation owner François Despagne did on taking over was dig a 2m hole to assess the soil composition, finding blue clay at the bottom), but so do viticultural practices—much greater attention to the vineyard and soil types is a common trend across Bordeaux over the last twenty years.

merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon likes and needs gravel soils in Bordeaux, and is almost always found in a blend. As the various soil types in St-Emilion show, Merlot is a bit more adaptable and doesn’t need to be in a blend. Spring frost can be an issue as Merlot buds earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon; at Despagne, the vines are trained so the first shoots are at the bottom of the vine where the air is warmest, reducing the risk of spring frost for the rest of the vine. St-Emilion is also higher up and windier than Pomerol, making spring frost more of an issue in the latter.

As with the rest of Bordeaux, fungal diseases can be a problem due to rain and humidity; at Despagne, the shoots are trained apart from each other for air circulation, with the canopy managed to protect the berries from heat and sunburn.

Merlot can build up lots of sugar (all the wines I tried were either 14.5 or 15% ABV), which is why it’s well-suited to clay soils which are cool and help slow down ripening. All these factors explain why St-Emilion can be inconsistent in quality, and that making wine from Merlot requires a lot of important decisions in the vineyard. In contrast, Pomerol is a much smaller appellation and the congregation of famous wineries on the plateau produce consistently plush wines.

neighbouring alternatives

To the north/north-east of St-Emilion are four satellite villages which have St-Emilion attached to their name: Montagne-St-Emilion, St-Georges-St-Emilion, Lussac-St-Emilion, and Puisseguin-St-Emilion. Also to the north-east is Francs-Côtes-de-Bordeaux and to the east is Castillon-Côtes-de-Bordeaux, both of which run into neighbouring Bergerac. Apart from Castillon, they’re further away from the river and lack the concentration of the best St-Emilion but can be a good alternative to some of the simpler wines of the better known appellation.

As the Pomerol plateau falls to the north towards the small river Isle, the appellation becomes Lalande-de-Pomerol, which is hillier but with similar clay-gravel-sand soils. The wines may lack the power of Pomerol, but they’re a lot cheaper and still very good.

To the west, as the Dordogne travels towards the Garonne to form the Gironde estuary are the two small appellations of Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac, which is one of the higher points in Bordeaux. The soils are mostly limestone and clay, with different aspects and drainage due to the slopes. Historically important and a little rustic, these wines are old-fashioned, good quality Merlot based blends.

There’s a lot to take in on Bordeaux’s Right Bank: the different soils, the subtle variations in elevation and aspect, the different forms of Merlot, heady alcohol, and many appellations all making wine from the same variety. This is where Merlot is at its most expressive, its most complex, and its most confusing. Visit St-Emilion and Pomerol to learn about what Merlot really is capable of, as well as to appreciate the regions’ bucolic beauty, even if the best wineries are too exclusive and expensive to visit. That’s right: many wineries won’t let you taste the Merlot, it’s just too good.