Lalande-de-Pomerol

The place

Lalande-de-Pomerol is 2 communes, Lalande-de-Pomerol and Néac, north of Pomerol across the Barbanne stream. The ground falls into 2 terraces: at Néac a high terrace of reddened sand, gravel and pebbles over clay; at Lalande the middle terraces of sand, gravel and pebbles in a sandy clay matrix, with a deep water table and an ironpan beneath. About 1,131 hectares and 143 growers make some 50,000 hectoliters a year.

The rules

Red only, from Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec as principal varieties, with Carmenère and Petit Verdot to 10%. The cahier des charges (the appellation’s official rulebook), the appellation’s official rulebook, asks for 5,500 vines a hectare, 53 hectoliters with a ceiling of 65 and 11% of natural alcohol; the wine is raised until March 15 and sold from March 31 of the year after the harvest. Everything Pomerol asks, asked a little less strictly. The appellation was recognized by decree on December 8, 1936, and the rules in force date from 2011, amended in 2012.

The names

No classification. The growers formed their syndicate on February 18, 1884, in the middle of the phylloxera crisis, 1 of the first in the Gironde, and in 2008 INAO made it the body that governs the appellation.

Color

Red

Communes

Lalande-de-Pomerol, Néac

Vineyard

About 1,131 hectares, 143 growers

Grapes

Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec; Carmenère and Petit Verdot to 10%

Density

5,500 vines a hectare at least

Yield

53 hectoliters a hectare, ceiling 65

Alcohol

11% natural at least

Release

From March 31 of the year after the harvest

Classified

No classification

AOC since

December 8, 1936

Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Lalande-de-Pomerol · INAO, Lalande-de-Pomerol · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux · Syndicat Viticole de Lalande de Pomerol · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux · INAO and the BO-AGRI, cahiers des charges