The Mystery of Château Pétrus
Why the World's Most Expensive Red Wine Costs So Much
Why Château Pétrus is unique and distinct from other Grand Cru vineyards nearby, such as Ausone and Cheval Blanc.
The World's Most Expensive Red Wine
Château Pétrus, selling for $1,500 a bottle in current release, is probably the world's most expensive red wine. All the wines of the Pomerol region of Bordeaux are expensive compared to the better known Grand Crus Classé wines of the Médoc-Ch. Margaux, Ch. Latour, Ch. Lafite and others. These great wines, possibly the finest Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines in the world command only a modest $365. Neighboring Château Cheval Blanc's current release is just $329, although its price soars in the best vintage years.
What distinction allows the wines of Pomerol and Château Pétrus in particular to command such outrageous prices? Certainly the usual market factors play a huge role: There's not much product and lots of wealthy wine lovers who will pay whatever these wines cost. But there's more to it. The geography of the vineyard of Château Pétrus is unique, even among the vineyards of Pomerol and St. Emilion.
A Matter of Terroir
As noted in our article on Wine Terroirs, the French pioneered (some would say "invented") the notion that different soils impart different characteristics to finished wines. Nowhere is this belief more ardently cherished than in Burgundy, where adjoining vineyard parcels with the same climatic exposure spell the difference between pricey Grand Cru wines and ordinary "Village" wines. The difference? The Grand Cru vineyard may enjoy a local outcroppping of Jurassic limestone soils, whereas the neighboring property may be characterized largely by geologically recent alluvium. A great mystery is why such recent alluvial soils produce mostly secondary wines in Burgundy, but the world's most expensive dessert wines in Sauternes (Château d'Yquem). These seeming anomalies have yet to be fully understood by the international winegrowing community, but the increasing prominence of microclimatic terroirs is steadily gaining recognition.
The Pétrus Buttonhole
The Pomerol region sits on a stony terrace that overlays the same limestone substrate that occurs in Sauternes. Called Calcaires à Asteries, it is a kind of limestone containing the remains of fossilized starfish. This limestone substrate reaches the surface only in the vineyard of Château Pétrus. Here the underlying limestone soil bursts up through the more recent gravelly topsoil, creating a growing environment unlike all the neighboring vineyards. To be sure, great wine is produced all over this region. But the vineyard of Château Pétrus is unique because of this Pétrus Boutonnière, whose soils are more than a hundred million years older than surrounding soils. The boutonnière is rich in calcareous clays that swell with moisture and retain it through dry periods, somewhat like the Linne Colado soils of Paso Robles, California.
New World soil scientists still clash with the French over the notion that actual soil chemistry has anything to do with flavor components of wine, arguing that the physical composition of soils is the determinate factor. Winemakers—and the French—tend to think differently. And the case of well draining, but moisture retentive soils seems to support the view of the soil scientists. On the other hand, it could be argued that French winegrowers base their opinions on the solid evidence of many centuries of trial and error.
