Enclos Tourmaline

The château

When Peter Kwok and his son Howard bought Château La Patache in Pomerol in 2012, they and their technical team singled out 5 parcels on the plateau, and Enclos Tourmaline was made from them. It is made only in the great vintages: there was none in 2013, the first vintage gave a little under 1,000 bottles, and production runs from 1,800 to 3,600 bottles, depending on the year. The cellar was renovated in 2016. The name is close to that of Château L’Enclos, but the 2 are separate estates.

The parcels lie on blue clay and gravel with iron crasse, and the wine is 100% Merlot. The pickers work block by block, chosen the day before, so a plot may be picked in 2 or 3 passes. The grapes are sorted one by one and go straight into barrels, new or of 1 wine, of French oak from the forests of Tronçais and Jupilles, dried 48 months and lightly toasted. After a cold maceration the whole crop ferments in them at 10 to 30°C, with punching down and turning of the barrels several times a day; the malolactic follows in the same barrels, and the wine rests on its lees for 18 to 36 months.

At a glance

Appellation

Pomerol

Commune

Pomerol

Classification

No classification

Owner

Vignobles K

Vineyard

5 parcels on the plateau, chosen after the purchase of Château La Patache in 2012

Soil

Blue clay and gravel with iron crasse Terroir of Pomerol →

Grapes

Merlot 100%

Cellar

Fermented entirely in barrel; malolactic in the same barrels; 18 to 36 months on the lees

Production

1,800 to 3,600 bottles; none in 2013

Wines

Enclos Tourmaline

The house

Also Château La Patache, Château Tour Saint Christophe and Château Bellefont-Belcier