Ch. Pedesclaux
5GCC
Pauillac
2016

The producer

Property history dates back to 19^th century, when in 1810 it was created by Pierre Urbain Pedesclaux, but the modern history of the estate doesn’t start until 2009, when the Lorenzetti family acquired the estate. Located in the Pauillac commune, nearby Chateaux Pontet-Canet and Mouton-Rothschild, Pedesclaux’ almost 50 hectares of land is on deep gravel over limestone soil and farmed organically – some parcels biodynamically – since 2009.

Altogether the attention to detail is high, the vineyards are tended to in small parcels, and the winery is 100% gravity fed. Pedesclauc has fifth growth status in the 1855 classification.

The wine

The blend of grape vaireties for the Grand Vin varies according to vintage conditions and grape ripeness but is usually composed of around 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 36% Merlot, and small amounts of Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc.

The fermentation takes place in a blend of vat and French oak barrels with close to half of the wine going through malolactic fermentation in barrel. Ageing lasts for around 17 months in oak barrels, of which 65% new. The wines have great black fruit concentration with hints of spice complexity, medium body and velvety tannins.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.