Château Dompierre - Pauillac 2022
In Pauillac, Château Dompierre embodies a unique approach to Médoc Cabernet Sauvignon, driven by Michel Aroldi since his establishment in the appellation in 2013. After an initial part of his career in Fronsac, the winemaker chose the gravel soils of the estuary to develop a personal vision of winemaking, more focused on texture finesse than on extraction power. The Pauillac cuvée comes from a confidential 2.5-hectare vineyard located on the Saint-Lambert plateau, a particularly sought-after area of the appellation. The vines are planted at a density of 10,000 feet per hectare and worked according to sustainable viticulture, with soil plowing, leaf thinning, and green harvesting when conditions require it. The grapes are hand-harvested then carefully sorted before entering the cellar. The uniqueness of the estate lies in a desire to treat Cabernet Sauvignon with an unusual delicacy in the Médoc. Château Dompierre thus offers a very personal interpretation of Pauillac, where the depth of the terroir is accompanied by a constant search for freshness and mouthfeel.
Château Dompierre Pauillac 2022 is made exclusively from Cabernet Sauvignon. The entire harvest is placed in wooden vats and fermentations start naturally thanks to indigenous yeasts. No pumping over or punching down is done during fermentation; the cap remains submerged to allow particularly slow extraction. Maceration lasts about eight weeks before draining and vertical pressing. Aging then lasts thirty-six months in large wooden vats from the Tronçais forest, a choice intended to bring complexity without marking the wine with new oak aromas. Bottling is done without fining or filtration, in line with this low-intervention philosophy. The 2022 vintage gives this method a naturally concentrated matter, which the winemaking seeks more to channel than to amplify.
The color shows a deep purple hue, still very young, with an almost opaque core. The nose opens on blackcurrant, fresh blackberry, and black cherry, then gains nuances of violet, graphite, and spices. On aeration, notes of cedar, licorice, and warm stone appear, accompanied by freshness that avoids any heavy character. The palate has a dense but surprisingly supple matter, supported by fine tannins whose texture contrasts with a more classic and austere vision of young Pauillac. The black fruit remains precise and juicy, extended by a mineral and slightly saline dimension. The finish stretches on blackcurrant, graphite, and spices, with a structure deep enough to allow long evolution in the bottle. Château Dompierre 2022 will accompany a beef fillet, roasted veal chop, rack of lamb, pigeon with cep mushrooms, or cuisine around black truffle.
Grape variety: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
