Wine Advisor
Petrus 2017
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Description
Petrus is made almost entirely of Merlot grapes grown in Bordeaux's right bank Pomerol appellation. Although never officially classified, the chateau has long been considered on par with the First Growths from the left bank. The ownership of the estate has passed between the Arnaud family in the 19th century, to Madame Loubat at the end of WWII, and finally to Jean-Pierre Moueix in recent years. Petrus's clay soil is rich in iron and the estate's average vine age is 40 years. Chateau Petrus produces approximately 3,000 cases of wine each year.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Petrus comes galloping out of the glass with bold, expressive notions of Black Forest cake, blueberry preserves and Christmas pudding with nuances of molten chocolate, Chinese five spice, candied violets, licorice and kirsch plus wafts of roses and cinnamon stick. Full-bodied, rich, spicy and fantastically concentrated, the palate has compelling freshness and a solid base of wonderfully ripe, velvety tannins, finishing very long and opulent. The aromatics at this youthful stage are atypical for Petrus and quite stunning—this 2017 is a bombshell! Furthermore, it is a unique style for this estate and one avid collectors should seek out!
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 2017 Petrus is deep garnet-purple in color and opens with incredible notes of preserved plums, baked blueberries and cherry compote with nuances of hoisin, violets, lilacs, licorice and exotic spices—a very open-knit, flamboyant and atypical Petrus barrel sample! The palate is medium to full-bodied, rich, plush and decadent with a firm frame and layers upon layers of perfume and spices on the very long finish.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Deceptively alluring a few months after bottling, the 2017 Petrus is attractive and nuanced, and yet I get the impression it is going through a rather awkward stage. Floral and blood orange overtones add freshness and inner perfume to a Petrus that will age more on finesse than power. Olivier Berrouet opted for longer skin contact than normal, about 30 days, with pumpovers of one volume of wine per day at the beginning of fermentation. Malolactic fermentation took place in steel. The 2017 spent about 14 months in oak and then four months in tank prior to being bottled in July 2019.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2017 Petrus is simply stunning. A rich, deep and voluptuous wine endowed with rapturous beauty. Vivid and wonderfully alive, with ripe, polished tannins, the 2017 is simply impeccable. Jean-Claude Berrouet told me he had never seen a harvest at Petrus stretch out over a three full weeks. Olivier Berrouet added that the berries were quite small. He opted for longer skin contact than normal, about 30 days, with pumpovers of one volume of wine per day at the beginning of fermentation. Even in the early going, Petrus is shaping up to be truly magnificent.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 Pétrus, as usual, is a wine that bides its time and I left my glass for five minutes before broaching. Bottled at the beginning of August 2019 it gradually unfurls with a mixture of red and black fruit, those pressed irises that I remarked upon out of barrel, now a hint of steaming espresso in the background. The palate is very smooth and quite plush on the entry. It has a frame of very pliant tannins, notes of mulberry mixed with black truffle and white pepper. This is a gentle and self-effacing, nonchalant Pétrus, not a headline grabber like the succeeding vintage, rather a Pétrus that just wants to be consumed. It deserves four or five years in bottle to manifest more secondary notes, and it will go on to give 25-30 years of drinking pleasure, taking account of its unerring longevity.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 Pétrus was tasted on two occasions just over one week apart, the second on 9 April being significantly different to the first. My note comes from the second and as usual I afforded the sample 10 minutes to open. It has an expressive bouquet that is slightly confit in style with red cherry, blackberry, black truffle and light iris scents, all detailed and focused. The bouquet needs less encouragement to open than the previous two vintages. The palate is extremely well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, fresh and vivacious from the very start. At its core lies a mixture of red and black fruit laced with black truffle and cracked black pepper, a discrete spiciness towards the velvety finish and then modest salinity lingering on the aftertaste. It is the second reading that attested to the “serious” side of this Pétrus and its cerebral side. I found more grip and linearity, clearly more complexity and less fatness towards the finish and I anticipate that these facets will become more accentuated as it develops in barrel. Whilst not the greatest Pétrus that I have tasted out of barrel, Olivier Berrouet has fashioned an almost mercurial and beguiling Pomerol.
About the Producer
The Patus winery has 11.5 hectares of vineyards. The top layer of the soil in the garden is pure clay, the bottom layer is terracotta, and the deeper layer is lime soil with high iron content, and has a good drainage system. The grape varieties planted are mainly Merlot, accounting for about 95%; the remaining 5% is Cabernet Franc. Because Cabernet Franc matures earlier, unless the vintage is particularly good, Patux winery is generally not used for winemaking. The planting density is 6,000 trees per hectare, and the average age of the trees is around 40 years, and some are even 80 years old. The operator adopts a more traditional method in the renewal of the vineyard, that is, through the selection, the best quality grape vine is used as the "mother plant", which is the same as the method when the Chateau Conti eradicated the old roots in 1946. The vineyard also adopts strict "fruit control". Each plant retains several bud eyes, and each bud eye leaves only one bunch of grapes. The goal is to fully ripen, but avoid over-ripening, otherwise it will affect the delicate flavor of the wine. In terms of the brewing process, Chateau Patus set the grape harvest time in the afternoon, the purpose is to let the morning sun dry the residual dew from the previous night. Each harvest employs 180 harvesters and takes about half a day to complete 2 to 3 harvests. During the brewing, Patus Winery spared no expense, replacing the wooden barrels (of different materials) every 3 months, and the aging time is about 20-22 months. Patus winery attaches great importance to quality and only selects the best grapes. In some bad years, such as 1991, it even stops production. The average annual output of Chateau Patus is no more than 30,000 bottles, which is extremely limited and expensive. Petrus, Pomerol, France is dark in color and has a delicate and rich aroma. Among the aromas of blackcurrant and mint, there are also many aromas such as blackberry, cream, chocolate, truffle, milk and oak. The taste is silky Slippery, long aftertaste.
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