Chateau Pey La Tour Bordeaux Superieur, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Chateau Pey La Tour Bordeaux Superieur with wine tasting notes, wine, and food pairing tips, best vintages, a history of the property, information on the vineyards, and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Pey La Tour History, Overview

What we know of as Chateau Pey La Tour today actually dates all the way back to the 1700s when it was developed by the Seigneurie family. At the time, the property was known as Chateau Clos de la Tour. The modern era for Chateau Pey La Tour however begins quite recently.

It started in 1990 when the estate was purchased by the Dourthe group, which also owns the well-known negociant company, CVGB, and several other vineyards all over Bordeaux in the Left Bank, St. Emilion, and Pessac Leognan.

At the time, the property was only 25 hectares of vines. As you can see, the owners have dramatically increased their holdings.

Chateau Pey La Tour Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The massive 200-hectare vineyard of Chateau Pey La Tour is located in the Entre Deux Mers appellation, not too far from Chateau Reignac.

The vineyard is close to 135 hectares planted with vines. The remainder of the estate is devoted to greenery, forests and gardens. The vineyard is planted to 95% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.

The terroir is sand, clay, and limestone soils. However, as you would expect, with such a large surface area, the soils vary quite a bit. In fact, the vineyard is divided into 90 parcels. The vines are planted to a vineyard density of 5,500 vines per hectare.

The picking is done using a combination of machine harvesters and manual pickers. The wine of Chateau Pey La Tour is vinified in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks.

Malolactic fermentation takes place in vat. The wine is aged in a combination of 33% new, French oak barrels, and amphora. The wine is aged in total of between 12 to 15 months before bottling.

Chateau Pey Latour Reserve comes from the best parcels of vines. While Pey La Tour comes from their sandier terroir, where the gravel is also lighter, Pey La Tour Reserve uses grapes planted in their deeper clay, limestone soils, and gravel terroir, which has larger, rocks and stones.

The blend for the Pey La Tour Reserve is also different, as here, you usually find 90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. However, there are also some vintages with a very small amount of Petit Verdot in the mix as well.

Chateau Pey La Tour produces three wines. Chateau Pey La Tour AOC Bordeaux, Chateau Pey Latour Reserve du Chateau Bordeaux Superieur (Their top wine) and a rose’.

The average annual production of Chateau Pey La Tour is quite large at close to 85,000 cases of wine per vintage.

The best vintages of Chateau Pey La Tour are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010 and 2009.

The wines of Chateau Pey La Tour are sold as Bordeaux, or Bordeaux Superieur.

When to Drink Chateau Pey La Tour, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Pey La Tour is better with at least 2-3 years of aging in good vintages. Young vintages can be decanted for up to 1 hour, helping the wine soften to help develop the aromatic character.

Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Chateau Pey La Tour offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 3-10 years of age after the vintage.

Serving Chateau Pey La Tour with Wine, Food, Pairing Tips

Chateau Pey La Tour is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Chateau Pey La Tour is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Pey La Tour is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.

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