Tour de France-Château Petrus and Château Trotanoy

History of Château Petrus

    During the 19th Century, Pétrus belonged to the Arnaud family and encompassed only 6.5 hectares (about 16 acres) planted in a traditional mix of 70 percent merlot and 30 percent cabernet franc. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Arnauds founded La Société Civile du Château Pétrus, offering shares in the company to the public. Madame Loubat, wife of the owner of the Hôtel Loubat in Libourne, began to acquire the shares in 1925, and by 1949, she owned the domaine outright.

    At the end of World War II, Pétrus produced an extraordinary wine, as did many Bordeaux properties in 1945. It was this vintage that brought Pétrus to the attention of wine buyers internationally, and locally confirmed the estimation of the vineyard's potential held by Christian Moueix's father, Jean-Pierre Moueix. His company of wine merchants, Ets. Jean-Pierre Moueix, was the most influential négociant house of the "right bank" of the Dordogne, including the merlot-dominated appellations of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion.

    The company acquired exclusive selling rights of Pétrus in 1945, and in 1964, three years after the death of Mme. Loubat, it acquired a 50 percent interest in the domaine by buying the shares of one of her two heirs. Today, Pétrus is owned by Jean-Pierre Moueix and Madame Lily Paul Lacoste, Mme. Loubat's niece. It is administered by Christian Moueix. In 1969, Pétrus was enlarged to its present size with the purchase of five hectares (about 12.5 acres) from Château Gazin, and, thereafter, the current varietal composition of 95 percent merlot/5 percent cabernet franc was obtained by replanting.
    In Pomerol there is no classification as in Médoc or Saint-Emilion. But the small surface, 11,50 hectares (9 time smaller than Lafite) of Pétrus makes it rare.
 
    Situated on the higher point of Pomerol. The new barrels are washed in order not to mark the wine to much. The grapes are harvested when fully matured for the purity of taste to the detriment of productivity.
 
    Pétrus, tremendous soil, is first of all the rendez-vous of men in love with wine; Michel Gilet, master of the vines, dreams of nature without chemistry; Francois Veyssiere, cellar-master is also collector of fruit-trees in danger of extinction; the winemaker, Jean-Claude Berrouet brings his enthusiasm of Basque to Pétrus as well as to Lafleur-Pétrus, La Magdeleine and Trotanoy.

Château Trotanoy

    "Trotanoy has historically been one of the great wines of both Pomerol and all of Bordeaux.  Since 1953, Trotanoy has been owned by the firm of Jean-Pierre Moueix.  The chateau is unmarked.  The vineyards of this modest estate are situated on soil of clay and gravel.  The wine is vinified and handled in exactly the same way as Petrus (which is owned and managed by the same family), except only 40% new oak barrels are used each year."

    "Trotanoy is an expensive wine because it is highly regarded by connoisseurs the world over.  Yet it rarely sells for more than half the price of Petrus - a fact worth remembering since it does have more than just a casual resemblance to th great Petrus itself.- Robert Parker on Château Trotanoy in Robert M. Parker’s “The World’s Greatest Wine Estates”.