Château Plince

The château

Plince stands at the eastern exit of Libourne, on the road to Montagne and Puisseguin, and it has been a name in the trade books since the 19th century. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list Château-Plince among the 2nd growths of Pomerol in 1893, under J. Rouchut, an avoué, at 20 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). Féret’s volume on the wines of the arrondissement of Libourne of 1897 describes about 6 hectares of Cabernet, called bouchet, Malbec, called noir-de-pressac, and Merlot, whose fine wines were among the most sought after of the 2nd growths. Rouchut also owned Clos l’Église, and the engraving of Clos l’Église shows Plince behind it. By 1908, under Rouchut’s widow, it made 30 tonneaux, and Féret placed it among the intermediate growths.

The Moreau family has owned it for more than 100 years, and its history can be read in the vat room. Of the 9 cement vats, 2 were built by Félix Moreau in 1942, 2 by Robert Moreau in the 1960s, 3 in the 1990s and 2 in 2020, all now with electronic temperature control. Michel Moreau runs it today. The vineyard is a single block of around 10 hectares, 9.05 of them in vines, on dark sand rich in iron, planted 84% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Franc, the Bouchet of the old books.

Plince has picked by machine for about 40 years and is on its 4th harvester, and Michel Moreau defends the choice with a grower’s logic: a modern machine takes the grapes berry by berry, where a picker takes the whole bunch, and it lets the team choose the day for each plot and start early in the morning, before the heat. The vines are pruned single Guyot; metal stakes have replaced acacia since 2020, grape worms are fought by mating disruption rather than insecticide, and any treatment is decided with an independent adviser. Around January the wine goes into the 150 barrels of the cellar for about 12 months, with one third of the barrels renewed each year, under the monthly analyses of the enologist M. Toutoundji. The estate makes about 50,000 bottles a year, most of them sold to the house of Moueix and the rest at the property, and won gold medals at the Concours Agricole de Paris for the 2000, 2007, 2012 and 2016 vintages.

At a glance

Appellation

Pomerol

Commune

Libourne

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Moreau family, for more than 100 years; Michel Moreau

Enologist

M. Toutoundji

Vineyard

9.05 hectares of vines in a single block of around 10

Soil

Dark sand rich in iron Terroir of Pomerol →

Grapes

Merlot 84%, Cabernet Franc 16%

Farming

Single Guyot; mating disruption, no insecticide; picked by machine for about 40 years

Cellar

9 cement vats, from 1942 to 2020; about 12 months in barrel, one third renewed each year

Production

About 50,000 bottles a year, mostly sold to the house of Moueix

Wines

Château Plince

In history

A 2nd growth of Pomerol under J. Rouchut in 1893; about 6 hectares in 1897; 30 tonneaux in 1908