La Fleur-Pétrus- What Every Wine Collector Needs To Know!

The Fleur Petrus is owned by the Moex family, which also owns prestigious wineries like Petrus, Bel Air Menange, and Dominus Estate, among others. The Moex family acquired this property back in the mid-1950s. While this acquisition certainly worked out well for the Moex family in the long run, it started off on a relatively inauspicious note, as shortly after the purchase, Pomerol was hit by the devastating Great Frost of 1956, which completely devastated the vineyards. As such, they had to do a total replant of all the vines. Over the years, the Moex family has gradually expanded the vineyard holdings for Le Fleur Petrus, and now they have an impressive 19 hectares of vineyards, which is an extremely large estate for Pomerol. Despite the fact that it's located essentially across the street from Petrus, Le Fleur Petrus demonstrates just how dramatically terroir can diverge within the tiny, compact Pomerol Appalachian. Unlike Petrus, which is known for having extremely concentrated blue clay soils, Le Fleur Petrus has soils that contain much more gravel and different types of clay, extremely small amounts of the famous blue clay. The differences in soils translates to a different expression of Pomerol wine, and also a different strategy in the vineyard. While Petrus is 100% Merlot, the 19 hectares of vines controlled by Le Fleur Petrus are planted to 91% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot, and it's extremely unusual for Petit Verdot to be planted in Pomerol. This planting mix is different from their historical approach, which was to include closer to 80% Merlot and around 20% Cabernet Franc. It's difficult to generalize about the winemaking approach used at Le Fleur Petrus because they vary the approach from vintage to vintage, depending on what the year requires. They use an extremely strict selection of fruit, and they use optical sorting equipment to assist with that selection. Le Fleur Petrus typically spends around 18 months in oak prior to bottling, but the percentage of new oak can vary from vintage to vintage, often between around 1 third new oak and 50% new oak, depending on the requirements that particular year. The blend can also vary depending on vintage, and they have some epic tasting sessions where Christian Moex, his son, and members of the winemaking team try to determine the exact blend that they will use for that particular year. The highly acclaimed 2019 vintage, which I tasted at the winery recently, is representative. The 2019 Le Fleur Petrus is a blend that consists of 94% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Even just a splash of Petit Verdot has a big impact on the final wine, so you really don't need a lot of it as a little bit can go a long way. Despite its youth, this wine was already extremely enjoyable and certainly has a long future ahead of it. Le Fleur Petrus is an elegant, sensuous style of Bordeaux that has the ability to age gracefully for decades. Some of my favorite vintages include 1998, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016, and 2019 and 2020. While you may need to pay up a more ready to enjoy, new releases can often be had for around $200 per bottle. In fact, I see that the 2023 vintage is selling for around $210 per bottle in the United States. 2023 Bordeaux is rolling out onto store shelves now. If you'd like to learn more about this excellent vintage and some of the wines that I recommend, please be sure to watch this video that's linked above.