Petrus: what it is, why it costs so much, and how to serve it

The short answer: Petrus is a red wine from Pomerol, on Bordeaux's Right Bank, made from Merlot. It is one of the rarest and most expensive wines in the world because it comes from a small vineyard on an unusual patch of clay, the production is tiny, and collectors everywhere want it.

Petrus in one minute

• Where: Pomerol, near Libourne, on the Right Bank of Bordeaux.
• Grape: Merlot. For decades there was a little Cabernet Franc too; today it is Merlot alone.
• Soil: heavy, iron-rich blue clay at the top of the Pomerol plateau. It holds water and keeps the vines steady in dry summers.
• Classification: none. Pomerol has never had an official classification, yet Petrus is its most famous wine.
• Second wine: none. Petrus makes one wine.
• The name: Petrus is Latin for Peter. Saint Peter, holding the keys of heaven, appears on the label.
• Say it: roughly “pay-TROOSS”, with the final s sounded.

How Petrus became Petrus

• The Arnaud family owned the estate from the end of the 18th century.
• Madame Edmond Loubat began buying shares in the 1920s and was the sole owner by 1945.
• Jean-Pierre Moueix, a Libourne merchant, gained the exclusive right to sell Petrus in 1945, and its international fame grew from there.
• Today the estate belongs to Jean-François Moueix and his family. In 2018 a 20% stake was sold to the businessman Alejandro Santo Domingo.

Why is Petrus so expensive?

• Very little of it. A small vineyard and strict selection mean few bottles each year.
• One unusual soil. The blue clay is rare even in Pomerol, and Petrus sits right on it.
• Demand from collectors around the world, for drinking and for keeping.
• Track record. Petrus has been one of Bordeaux's most famous names since the mid-20th century, and great bottles age for decades.

Price level: collector. It is sold through fine-wine merchants and at auction. If you buy, buy provenance: a known merchant, original wooden cases, a storage history. Famous Bordeaux is a target for fakes.

What it tastes like

Petrus is Merlot at its most serious: deep colour, dark plum and black cherry, a velvet texture, and fine tannins that are plentiful but rarely hard. Young, it is dense and closed. With age come truffle, earth, leather and spice, while the texture stays silky. It is less about power than about depth and length.

Serving Petrus: what a sommelier does

• Check the bottle first. Confirm the vintage with the host, check the fill level and the cork, and show the label before opening.
• Stand an old bottle upright for a day if you can, so the sediment settles.
• Open older bottles gently. Old corks can be soft; a two-prong Ah-So opener lifts them out whole.
• Decant for the right reason. A young Petrus benefits from air, so decant an hour or more ahead. An old one needs decanting only to leave the sediment behind, just before serving, because its aromas can fade quickly.
• Temperature: around 16 to 18°C. Too warm and it feels heavy; too cold and it closes up.
• Glass: a large Bordeaux or universal glass. See why a Zalto Bordeaux glass suits wines like this.
• Pour small, so everyone at the table gets a second glass as the wine opens up.

Petrus with food

• Roast lamb or a simple, well-aged beef rib.
• Duck, pigeon and game birds.
• Truffle and wild mushrooms, especially with an older bottle.
• Keep the sauce simple. The wine is the star; let the dish support it.

If not Petrus: other wines from the same plateau

For how Pomerol fits into Bordeaux, and why it has no classification, read my Bordeaux guide for the Certified Sommelier exam. For a pairing with a special bottle, ask SOMM DIGI AI.

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