Château Les Ormes-de-Pez
Encyclopedia
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for The Elms of Pez) is a winery
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
in the Saint-Estèphe
Saint-Estèphe
Saint-Estèphe is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-Wine:Saint-Estèphe is best known as the northernmost, and one of the four major wine-growing appellations of the Médoc...
appellation
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
of the Bordeaux wine
Bordeaux wine
A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...
region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, near the hamlet of Pez. The wine produced here was classified as one of 9 Cru Bourgeois
Cru Bourgeois
The Cru Bourgeois classification lists some of the high quality wines from the Left Bank Bordeaux wine regions that were not included in the 1855 Classification of Classed Growths, or Grands Crus Classés...
Exceptionnels in the 2003 listing. Though this classification is currently annulled, it is expected to be revived by the 2009 vintage, but without use of the quality divisions such as "exceptionnel".
History
The Château and buildings date from 1792, constructed after the division and sale of Château de PezChâteau de Pez
Château de Pez is a vineyard located across the road from Château Calon-Ségur, in the northern parts of Saint Estèphe. Traditionally one of the leading Bourgeois Supérieur wines of the Médoc, it is believed by some to deserve higher classification. In a 2003 Cru Bourgeois classification revision,...
as a result of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. During the 19th century it was owned by Marcel Alibert, also the owner of Château Belgrave
Château Belgrave
Château Belgrave is a winery in the Haut-Médoc appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen Cinquièmes Crus in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. At the time of classification, the winery was called Château Coutenceau, and...
, until it was sold in 1927 to the Société Civile du Haut Médoc. Financial trouble forced the estate to be sold on to Jean-Charles Cazes in 1930, who passed it on to his son André Cazes.
To date the estate is owned by the Cazes family, also owners of Château Lynch-Bages
Château Lynch-Bages
Château Lynch-Bages is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Lynch-Bages is also the name of the red wine produced by this property...
. For many years the vinification took place at Lynch-Bages, but the cuvier and chai of Ormes-de-Pez were modernised before the 1981 vintage. After a long period of management by Jean-Michel Cazes
Jean-Michel Cazes
Jean-Michel Cazes is a French winemaker and insurance executive. He managed the wine holdings of AXA Millésimes until 2000, the family insurance agency, and the Cazes family estates until 2006...
, he has been succeeded by his son Jean-Charles Cazes.
Production
The vineyard area, divided into two blocks north and south of the village of Saint-Estèphe, extends 33 hectares (81.5 acre), with the grape varieties of 70% Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
, 10% Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
and 20% Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
.
The annual production of the Grand vin Château Ormes de Pez is typically 15,000 cases. No second wine
Second wine
Second wine is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from cuvee not selected for use in the Grand vin or first label...
is produced.