Chateau Seraphine AOC Pomerol, 2020

Concentrated and dense, 2020 Château Séraphine has aromas of sweet black fruits, blackberry and incense. Château Séraphine is a new estate founded by Martin Krawjeski in 2017, which is already winning acclaim as a rising star. Having sold Château de Sours to Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, Martin purchased two parcels of old vines in southwest Pomerol. A total of 2.2 hectares is split between 1 hectare next to the winery at Plince on a well-draining slope of sandy soil over deep clay and gravels and 1.2 hectares at Mazeyres. These consist of 0.6 hectares of old Merlot vines on deep gravels and 0.6 hectares of young vines planted by Martin in 2017. The young vines are on more shallow, sandy soils over gravels and Pomerol’s famous blue clay (smectite). The 2020 has fine-grained tannins, cassis flavours and layers of texture with some grip, creating an overall elegant wine. Grapes were handpicked then underwent a cold soak for one day before fermentation in tank with regular pump-over and a single “delastage” and a 1000-litre clay amphora. Malolactic was carried out in 300-litre new oak barrels with the wine then matured for 12 months in barrel with 40% new and 60% second/third fill.