La Sergue Lalande de Pomerol 2015

La Sergue is the ambitious Lalande-de-Pomerol of Pascal Chatonnet, the Bordeaux oenologist whose family put down roots at Château Haut-Chaigneau in Néac in 1967. It assembles three micro-terroirs, La Mirande, La Margaux, and La Pignière, where clay and silica soils are threaded with crasse de fer, the iron-rich subsoil famous next door in Pomerol, from vines more than forty years old. The 2015 blends 85 percent Merlot with 12 percent Cabernet Franc and 3 percent Malbec, each lot vinified separately in wooden vats, aged around eighteen months in barrel, 40 percent new, then given extra time in bottle at the estate before release. Black fruit, spice, black tea, and cassis move with power and delicacy on fresh acidity. Right Bank seriousness from an appellation that rarely gets the credit.