2000 Château De Chambrun, 12-bottle Lot, Wood Case

Château de Chambrun gets its name from “champ brun,” French for “brown field,” perhaps referring to fields after harvest. The estate’s history goes back to at least the 19th century, and since 2007 it has been owned by Silvio Denz. Denz also owns Château Péby Faugères, Château Faugères and is part-owner of Château Rocheyron. Denz is a wine merchant with financial interests in estates in Spain and Tuscany. Château de Chambrun has 18 vineyard acres and is in the village of Néac, in the heart of the Lalande de Pomerol appellation. Wine Advocate has called Château de Chambrun “one of the great Lalande de Pomerols and consistently well-made,”

Lalande-de-Pomerol is a red wine appellation just north of Pomerol. The two main communes are Lalande-de-Pomerol and Néac. As part of the Bordeaux Right Bank, the wines of this appellation are primarily Merlot, with additions of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. Although Lalande-de-Pomerol has historically been considered a lesser appellation than its distinguished neighbor Pomerol, in recent decades Lalande-de-Pomerol has been revitalized as owners of estates in Pomerol also acquire estates in Lalande-de-Pomerol, typically using the same winemakers and viticultural practices for both estates. Without almost 2,600 vineyard acres, Lalande-de-Pomerol is slightly larger than Pomerol. The official appellation was awarded in 1954, although some estates had been using Lalande-de-Pomerol designations on their labels as early as the 1920s.