Lalande-de-Pomerol, appellation to the immediate north of pomerol that is very much in the shadow of this great red wine district of Bordeaux. It includes the communes of Lalande-de-Pomerol and Néac and produces lush, Merlot-dominated wines which can offer a suggestion, sometimes a decidedly rustic suggestion, of the concentration available in a bottle of fine Pomerol but at a fraction of the price. Including about 1,100 ha/2,700 acres of vineyards, the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation is much bigger than that of Pomerol, and its soils are composed of clay, sand, and some well-drained gravels in the south where it is divided from the Pomerol appellation only by the Barbanne river. At one time, the Barbanne separated that part of France which said oc for yes (see languedoc) from that part which said oil and spoke the langue d’oil. Because land here is so much cheaper than in Pomerol, recent years have seen investment from those who already own properties in St-Emilion and, particularly, Pomerol. Obvious examples include La Fleur de Boüard, co-owned with Ch Angelus, and La Chenade and Les Cruzelles, co-owned with Ch l’Eglise Clinet.
