The third among the great Léoville super-seconds. This was originally regarded as the first among equals and today, after a period of relative decline in the 1960s and 70s, it is once more challenging the other two Léoville properties. Poyferré, while a serious, dense and powerfully structured wine, is more approachable than the other two. It has a more vibrant, upfront, dark blackcurrant and mulberry fruit character and is an altogether more opulent style, partly achieved through a portion of the wine being put through malolactic in barrel. Nevertheless it remains very refined and elegant, an excellent expression of its terroir. The estate has gone from strength to strength under the stewardship of Didier Cuvelier since 1979, who introduced many innovations and modernisations and increased the size of the vineyard holdings from 48 ha to 80 ha until he retired in 2017. The wines produced since the millennium are particularly fine. He has been succeeded by his niece, Sara Lecompte Cuvelier.Another wine, Moulin Riche,was long thought of as a second wine, but as in the case of LEOVILLE-LAS-CASES’S Clos de Marquis, it is made from a separate plot of vines in St Julien andis good to very good on occasion. There is a true second wine called Pavillon de Léoville Poyferré.(DM/NB)
