Wine News Archive

The name Pomerol is derived from the word POMA, a Latin word used by both Virgil and by Horace, to describe fruits with pips - notably grapes.
Pomerol is sometimes described as a living witness to the old Roman civilisation. Grapes were cultivated extensively by the Gauls and the Romans here and in Saint Emilion (today Pomerol is an individual commune and two thirds of the AOC Pomerol lies within it. The other one third of the Pomerol AOC is located in the commune of Libourne, but has the right to this AOC Pomerol). Indeed the Gauls loved wine so much that they inverted the Roman practice and while the Romans sent wine from Gaul to Rome the Gauls sold slaves for imported wine! When the Gauls produced enough wine themselves (First Century AD), they more or less stopped importing, started exporting, and RE-inverted the system!
After the Gauls, and the great wine advocate Ausonius, came the Aryan warriors, in 418 (Visigoths). Then Clovis, in 507, and the Irish Benedictine Monks, in 600. After this the Arabs arrived. Pépin le Bref followed and after him Aemilianus. Next came Charlemagne (son of Pépin le Bref) and various monastic orders, monks and churches, all of whom grew vines. These religious and monastic orders kept the culture of the vines alive during the Dark Ages; else all would have been lost.

Later came the period of the Commanderie des Chevaliers de Saint Jean de Jérusalem, de Rhodes et de Malte. This today is the Sovereign Military Hospitalier Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, usually known as the Sovereign Order of Malta, with its members being the Knights of Malta. This famous Order needs some explanation. It is believed that about 1050AD, with the help of merchants from Amalfi and of pilgrims, the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary, in Jerusalem, established a Hospice close to the Holy Sepulchre in order to tend visiting pilgrims as well as the poor and the sick. Brother Gerard was the first Master. In 1099, the first Crusade entered Jerusalem. The hospital was desperately needed, did wonderful work, became famous and was generously endowed. It grew and prospered. The brothers and the sisters assumed a military as well as a nursing role. The knights served as armed guards and escorts and also fought with the crusader kings and princes. The order was officially recognised by Pope Paschal 2nd, in 1113. From then on it was a religious order. It had both knights who took no vows and knights that did. Thus it was both religious and chivalric. It spread throughout Europe. Its chief purpose became to channel both recruits and funds to the headquarters in the East. One of the very earliest European chapters was, as we have seen, that of Pomerol in the 12th century.

The Commandery moved its headquarters to Rhodes, in 1309. It founded a territorial state and protected the Mediterranean against the Moors. In 1522, it had to leave Rhodes as Soliman the Great captured the Island, and it spent 8 years without a base. In 1530 it was given a donation of the Island of Malta. It remained of the utmost importance in history until the 19th century. It finally lost its possessions in England and in Germany under the reforms and its French possessions under the Revolution. Also the French took Malta under Napoleon There was therefore a conversion to Trieste, in 1798, and then to Rome, in 1834. Later all its land and possessions in Russia were confiscated by the State.
Finally, after so many trials and tribulations, in 1961, Pope John 23rd recognised a religious and chivalric order. Today it has diplomatic relations with the Vatican. They continue to maintain hospitals, first aid centres and aid centres for refugees and the injured. The Grand Master of the order is a Prince and ecclesiastically equivalent to a Cardinal.

The Commandery basically took possession of Pomerol in the 12th Century. The Pomerol Commandery is the oldest Commandery in Aquitaine, whilst the oldest in France is Villedieu les Poëles, in Normandy. It (the Pomerol one) was constituted on the basis of the “Lands of Barbanne”, which were given to the order at the beginning of the 12th century by Lucien de Pois and Guillaume de Ségur. The Chevaliers of the Commandery tended and developed the vine throughout their long history, which lasted until the dispossession of the church and its lands by the French Revolution, as noted above.
Each Commandery was headed by a Commander and, up to the time of the Revolution, there were 42 of them. They had full Seigniorial rights over Pomerol as well as spiritual rights. Here they divided up their land into 11 concessions, which were rented out to various classes of persons. The Pomerol lands were large and the rents were low. More can be seen about the way these concessions were handled under the profile of Chateau Gazin.
Pomerol history, post Revolution, can be found in the HISTORY OF CHATEAU of each of the FIVE WINES in this issue. Pomerol today covers the small area of 800 hectares of vines, some 4 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide, divided up between 150 owners, who declare a crop each year. Its production, since 1995, has varied between 24,500 hectolitres in 2003 and 40,100 in 1995, but in 1986 got up to 46,000 hectolitres/hectare. 60% of this production is consumed in France and the other 40% is exported. The principal grape varieties are Merlot 70%, Cabernet Franc (locally known as Bouchet and earlier, in the 16th century, as Bidure. This is just possibly the original Vitis Biturica, cultivated by the Romans and praised by Pliny) 25% and Cabernet Sauvignon 5%.
The Viticultural Syndicate of Pomerol was founded in 1900, to defend the name of Pomerol. It later founded a vinous order, the “Hospitaliers de Pomerol”, to promote and publicise their wines. The official “Appellation Pomerol Contrôlée" was created in 1936. The region of Pomerol has never had, never requested and never wanted an official classification.