The formation of Chateau La Pointe dates all the way back to the middle of the 19th century. The estate found the inspiration for its name due to the unusual, triangular shape of their Pomerol vineyards.Pomerol is the smallest appellation in Bordeaux. Perforce, most of the estates in Pomerol are understandably small. That is not the case with Chateau La Pointe, which is the third largest property in the Pomerol appellation with 23 hectares of vines. Only Chateau de Sales and Chateau Nenin are larger. In fact, Chateau La Pointe is so big, it takes up more than 2% of the entire Pomerol appellation!Things change at Chateau La Pointe after the property was purchased by the d’Arfeuille family in 1941, who later purchased Chateau La Serre in St. Emilion. Following their ownership, Chateau La Pointe was sold to the French insurance company, Generali France in 2007.
Eric Monneret, who had been in charge of Chateau Raymond Lafon in Sauternes was named the new director. One of the next decisions the new owners made was to hire Hubert de Bouard, the owner of Chateau Angelus in St. Emilion, to consult and help manage Chateau La Pointe. Under the direction of Hubert de Bouard, the estate began replanting their Right Bank vineyards.They pulled out the Cabernet Sauvignon and added more Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Both grape varieties are much better suited for Chateau La Pointe.
Additionally, massive amounts of money were spent to improve the wines and wine making facilities at Chateau La Pointe. The main area of improvement made by the estate was to add enough temperature controlled stainless steel vats to allow for vinification on a parcel by parcel basis.The estate also added new concrete vats. However, at the time of the purchase, the vats were quite large at 140 hectoliters.Hubert de Bouard advised them to make the tanks smaller and instead of purchasing new vats, he suggested they just add more concrete to the older vats, decreasing their size, allowing for more parcel by parcel vinification while saving them money as well.The new cellars of Chateau La Pointe were designed to be green, energy efficient facilities with solar panels and a water recycling system.
The renovations were completed just in time for the legendary, 2009 Bordeaux harvest. However, the work on Chateau La Pointe did not stop there, as they completed a new drainage system and ecologically friendly, vatroom. The new vat house allowed for parcel by parcel vinification.
The 23 hectare Pomerol vineyard of Chateau La Pointe is planted to 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. The property is one of the larger vineyards in the tiny Pomerol appellation. Most of their vineyards are placed just north of Catusseau, near to to Libourne, with the exception of 1 parcel, situated close to Trotanoy.The terroir consists of gravel, sand and clays soils. The vineyard can be divided into 3 separate sections, each with its own terroir. The vines are on average 35 years of age. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,300 vines per hectare to 7,600 vines per hectare. The higher levels of vine density are found in the newer plantings.Much of their works takes place with the goal of lowering yields. While previous and current vintages were close to 35 hectoliters per hectare, give or take, the goal is to further reduce yields to an average of 20 hectoliters per hectare, to improve the concentration in the wine.To produce the wine of Chateau La Pointe, vinification takes place in traditional, 80 hectoliter stainless tanks. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barrels for 50% of the harvest. The remaining 50% of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in tank. The wines are then aged in 100% new, French oak barrels for an average of 12 months.Previous vintages were aged in 50% new, French oak. Chateau La Pointe produces more than 12,000 cases of Pomerol wine per year from their Right Bank estate. There is a second wine, Pomerol de la Pointe. The name of the second wine has changed as it was previously known as La Pointe Riffat.
