Hold the press!

For a eureka moment. A splendid revelation to discover a Pomerol so tasty yet so affordable. Whilst cult Châteaux just a stone’s throw away such as Petrus or Le Pin cruise in the $4,000s per bottle, a complete unknown that not only shares this all eyes on us micro-appellation, but also the purity and intensity of its famous wines, while staying under the $30 mark is, simply remarkable.

Decanter was one of the earliest to report on this phenomenal harvest just hitting the shelves, despite all the tariffs that are sadly making great French wines spike in pricing. “The top-scoring Pomerol 2018 wines are ‘clearly incredible’ and estates used a long harvest to imprint their identities on the wines…” they wrote, concluding that “the best wines of Pomerol this year are quite clearly incredible – with density, freshness, complexity, and balance.”

Voila, we say. Now THAT’S WHY this blows minds for the money. It has no scores at all, but so what? Jeb Dunnuck rates the 2018 Pomerol in the 95-98 range and this, for our palates, slips right in there. We endorse it wholeheartedly as every drop in the bottle is cherished around the tasting panel table. Agent Noir immediately buries his face in his laptop looking for another reliable 2018 Pomerol under $30. Hours chase hours. He loses hope. There are none.

Searching for the truth - which is always in the glass - reveals a wider pale ruby rim turning pitch deep with a near opaque crimson core. The nose is of pedigree and complexity, revealing ripe boysenberry, red plum, kirsch, and tobacco nuances. A first sip rushes silky tannins forth, while a red berry tone underpins the supplementing savory, earth, and spicy elements. The finish is long and authoritative, hinting at a wine delicious now but cellaring supremely well too. If opened today, it will benefit from air and a pepper-crusted steak to pair, and if laid down a few years, all it would need are some sublime aged cheeses to show its stuff.

Then he puts his spy hat on. Curiosity consumes him. Hours chase hours again, no stone unturned until he locks in on the name behind this label, Thunévin!

Jean-Luc Thunévin’s portfolio of great properties, and a tradition-defying reputation as the “Bad Boy of Saint-Émilion” are legendary, in the recent history of the Right Bank, he has redefined quality, one wine at a time. Robert Parker is a huge fan of Thunévin and was the first to call him Bad Boy, along with the nickname “Black Sheep of Bordeaux.” Apparently well deserved, who knows what top-notch fruit was spared when blending this beauty. There just is no information on it, practically a ghost wine.

Again for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Neal Martin goes deeper in soul-searching: “Jean-Luc Thunévin and I share a common past life: both former DJs, masters at the wheels of steel, dance-floor in the palm of our hands, planning the next series of floor-fillers like a chess grandmaster plotting his moves. Of course, we both moved on to different things. I took the needle off the record and delved into wine writing. Jean-Luc became the eminence gris of the vin de garage movement that defined the 1990s. He became a “bad boy” that shook Bordeaux by its starched lapels, challenged preconceptions of what constitutes a great wine, gleefully upsetting the status quo. Whether or not you are a fan of “vins de garage,” the ripples of this movement continue to be felt today.”

Bought all we could. Obviously not enough to go around for long.