Chateau L'Evangile

Chateau L’Evangile is founded by the L’Eglise family, with the first appearance in the land registry in 1741 under Fazilleau. It was later renamed to L’Evangile, at the turn of the 19^th century, when it was acquired by Isambert, a lawyer in the region.

In 1862 it was sold to Paul Chaperon, and upon his death, his daughter brought the estate to her husband, the Ducasse family, who continued to own the property until 1990. Paul had made the wine famous, which by 1868 was regarded as an upper Pomerol first growth.

The Ducasse family continued to run the estate until early 1960s, but the property had been in decline, particularly after the vineyard was damaged by the frost in 1956. Louis Ducasse made considerable effort to restore the fame, with his widow Simone Ducasse taking over in 1982.

In 1990, Domaine Barons de Rothschild acquired 70% of the estate, and started with a more discriminating selection of the finest lots, at the same time creating a second wine – Blason de L’Evangile.

The team from Lafite also enhanced the vines’ health through restoration and renewal of the vines. In 2003/2004 the tank room and chai was completely renovated, starting to produce wines which showed majestic richness and compelling characters. In 2000 the Rothschild family, with Albert Frere, acquired full ownership.

Surrounded by famous vineyards like La Conseillante, Vieux Chateau Certan and Petrus in the north, and Cheval Blanc in the south, the estate is situated on deep gravelly soil mixed with both clay and sand. Total vineyard area is 14 ha, planted with 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. Average vine age is 35 years.

Manually harvested with strict selection in vineyard, the vinification process took place in small to moderate sized cement and stainless steel vats. The wine will spends 18-20 months in new oak barrels, with annual production around 5000 cases.

 

I have recently tasted the 1996 vintage and below is my tasting note:

 

Good quality Pomerol with deep ruby color and a garnet rim, the nose is fairly intense, with good complexity of blackberry, black cherries, prune, liquorice, black tea, cocoa, forest floor and truffle. Medium in acidity, the tannin is ripe and silky, with medium body and showing reasonable concentration of blackberry and black cherries, raisin, cinnamon and cedar. However, the palate is not as complex as the nose and less interesting. Despite the age there is still ample freshness, with a reasonable finish. It is ready to drink now but not intend for further ageing.