Château Gazin — Château Gazin 1953

The Château Gazin 1953, in an outstanding bottling by Reidemeister & Ulrichs, was tasted at a session focused on the 1953 and 1957 vintages. What makes this Pomerol so special: in 1970, the estate was forced to sell some of its finest vineyard parcels to its neighbours at Château Pétrus. So anyone drinking the famous Pétrus today has wine in their glass from vineyard land that, roughly half of it, once belonged to Gazin — at the very least, the terroir of today's Pétrus was right there in the glass. Somewhat cheekily announced as an 'almost-Pétrus,' the wine put the also-tasted Château Latour 1957 (92 points) firmly in the shade. Even with a degree of tempered enthusiasm, the Gazin sailed comfortably to 94 points.