- Colour Red
- Producer Château l'Evangile
- Region Pomerol
- Drinking 2026 - 2053
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
2020 - Ch L'Evangile Pomerol - 6x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château l'Evangile
- Region Pomerol
- Drinking 2026 - 2053
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
Select pricing type
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Goedhuis, May 2021, Score: 96-98
88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc The new team at this flagship estate for the Rothschild family in Pomerol have hit the jackpot this year. A sensational wine offering the perfect combination between grace and opulence. Deep opaque in colour, a glossy aroma of freshly varnished wood, and an attractive combination of dark berries, with some herbal freshness and cabernet graphite and cedar notes. A more defined style than previous years, noticeably intense, but more subtle in character. Beautifully layered, the tannins have a fine powdery nature to them. Very poised and immense quality. A great wine all round.
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Neal Martin, December 2022, Score: 95
The 2020 L'Évangile, the maiden vintage under the new team, is matured in 60% new oak and 40% mixture of used wood and amphora. It has an expressive, mineral-driven bouquet that open nicely with aeration, light floral touches, incense and potpourri emerging with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, lovely balance and very intense. This is not a powerful Pomerol, not one of huge dimension and muscle, yet there is a multi-layered finish of black fruit that lingers long in the mouth. One for laying down for a decade. Very impressive. Drink 2030-2055
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Neal Martin, May 2021, Score: 94-96
The 2020 L’Evangile marks the opening of a chapter with a new winemaking team in place. Perhaps now it will begin challenging the Pomerol elite, which it ought to, given its terroir. The nose augurs a different L’Evangile, no question about that. Gone is the wall of new oak that occasionally shrouded the fruit and terroir expression; the oak is still there, but far more assimilated into the attractive brambly red berry fruit, black currant pastilles and light rose petal scents. The palate is smooth on the entry, so much so that it belies the depth of this wine. Complex and quite cerebral, delivering palpable salinity, particularly toward the finish. Veins of black truffle and white pepper come through with aeration over the course of an hour, and with revisits at three-hour intervals. I think there is a little work to do, but what this L’Evangile conveys is newfound personality and soul and a sense of Pomerol typicité. A new chapter opens. Drink 2026 - 2055
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Antonio Galloni, December 2022, Score: 96
The 2020 L'Évangile is gorgeous. Rich, creamy and expansive in feel, the 2020 is a wine of succulence and textural richness. Black cherry, mocha, espresso, cloves, leather and licorice all meld together. Malolactic fermentation in barrel helps give L’Évangile its sumptuous, creamy personality. The 2020 spent 15 months in barrel, 50% new, with 10% of the wine aged in amphora. The 2020 is a gorgeous wine that is also a wine of transition, as so many things are being looked at with a fresh eye at the estate these days. Drink 2028-2050
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Antonio Galloni, June 2021, Score: 95-97
The 2020 L'Évangile is fabulous. Aromatic, deep and fleshy, with magnificent purity of fruit, L'Évangile dazzles right out of the gate. Bright Franc aromatics add striking lift as well as vibrancy that carries through to the long, delineated finish. There is an energy to the 2020 that is palpable. Harvest for the Merlot began on September 3, ahead of a heat wave that was forecast, and wrapped up on the 14th for the Merlot and the 21st for the Franc. That approach worked so well here. In the past, L'Évangile and Lafite-Rothschild were very different stylistically, but that seems to be changing now that Saskia de Rothschild is spending a great deal of her time in Pomerol with the new winemaking team. The estate, certified biodynamic as of 2021, has been pursuing a more refined approach for a few years, but 2020 is the first recent vintage where the personality of the year seems to have aligned especially well with the current thinking here. The 2020 L'Évangile is easily the most Lafite-like L'Évangile I have ever tasted. Don't miss it! Drink 2030 - 2050
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Decanter, May 2021, Score: 98
The sculpting of L'Evangile that began over the past few vintages continues, and the 2020 is a gorgeous wine. Pristine fruit, silky with a whoosh of menthol. It elevates over the palate, both dense and light, with blueberry and raspberry fruits, and pulses of bitter almond and honeysuckle on the finish that gives focus and spice. Juliette Couderc joined L'Evangile (from DBR Lafite's Long Dai winery) in September 2020 so for the harvest of this wine, working alongside technical director Olivier Tregoat. 50% first wine, with no Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend this year because it was so over-concentrated that it made too much impact. Increased selective harvesting meant going through vineyard plots six times to bring in the grapes as they ripened. A yield of 32hl/ha. In the final year of organic conversion, so this next vintage 2021 will be certified.
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Jancis Robinson, April 2021, Score: 17+
Dense and reserved but with a lift of chocolate and berry fruit as it opens. Generous fruit on the palate, the aromatic complexity more pronounced. Burgundian, berry-fruit nuance. Firmly muscular and tannic behind, the tannins solid but well honed. Slightly grippy finish which could be the oak needing to settle. (JL)
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Jeb Dunnuck, May 2021, Score: 95-97+
Described as a new age for l’Evangile by the estate, their 2020 Château L'Evangile showed beautifully, with the pure, elegant yet still ripe, beautifully concentrated style of the estate these days. Rocking levels of crème de cassis, black cherries, blueberries, graphite, and violets all emerge from the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a terrific sense of purity, present, ripe yet firm tannins, and a great finish. It's a promising, elegant yet at the same time powerful 2020 that's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for 20-25 years or more. The blend is 88% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc, all raised in 60% new French oak.
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Wine Cellar Insider, May 2021, Score: 96-98
Dark garnet in color, initially you notice all the truffle, flowers, dark cocoa and plums with a touch of licorice in the aromatics. On the palate the wine is rich, lush, velvety and full-bodied. There is a beautiful richness to the texture on the mid-palate and in the opulen finish with its wealth of chocolate, espresso, black plum and sweet Morello cherries. The endnote lingers, which is what you need, as this tastes and feels so good, you want more of it. If you can, give this a decade of age this will really be singing. The wine blends 88% Merlot with 12% Cabernet Franc, 14.5% ABV. Yields were low at 32 hectoliters per hectare. The Grand Vin was made from 50% of the harvest.
Producer
Château l'Evangile
L'Evangile has long been one of the most sought after Right Bank châteaux. Since the Rothschildfamily (the Lafite branch) purchased the estate in 1990, its quality has rivalled neighbouring Pétrus and Lafleur.
Region
Pomerol
The small sub-region of Pomerol is situated north-east of the industrious city of Libourne. Pomerol's soils are predominately iron-rich clay with a smattering of gravel that produce wines with extraordinary power and depth. As a result of this clay-dominance, it has the highest percentage of Merlot planted in all of Bordeaux. Certain châteaux are produced exclusively from this grape, but most incorporate smaller quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc as well. Despite its hefty (if not exclusive) proportion of Merlot, many people think of wines from this region as separate entities. As one wine aficionado stated recently, "It's not Merlot. It's Pomerol." Despite the region's small size, Pomerol contains some of the world's most sought after (and expensive) wines including Pétrus, Le Pin, Lafleur, l'Evangile and Vieux Château Certan. Unlike other Bordelais subregions, there is no system of classification. The châteaux are traded on reputation alone.
