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Pomerol is a French wine growing commune and ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) within the Libournais ("Right Bank") in Bordeaux. The wine produced here, predominately from Merlot with Cabernet Franc playing a supporting role, is also known as Pomerol.〔Clive Coates ''An Encyclopedia of the Wines and Domaines of France'' pgs 110-115 University of California Press; First Printing edition (June 2001) ISBN 0520220935 〕 Unlike most other Bordeaux communes, there is no real village of Pomerol, although there is a church. The houses are set among the vineyards.〔Stephen Brooks ''The Complete Bordeaux'' pgs 457-461 Mitchell Beazley (November, 2012) ISBN 1845337077 〕 The region was recognized as a distinct wine region apart from Saint-Émilion and the greater Libournais region by the French government in 1923 and was granted AOC status in 1936 as part of the first wave of AOC establishments by the ''Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité'' (INAO).〔 While it is now one of the most prestigious of the Bordeaux AOCs, this situation is relatively recent, dating to the second half of the twentieth century, which is often given as one of the reasons why Pomerol is not included in any of the Bordeaux classifications. Pomerol is the smallest of the major fine wine regions in Bordeaux, covering an area that is roughly three kilometers wide by 4 kilometers long. It is roughly one-seventh of the size of its much larger Right Bank neighbor Saint-Émilion AOC and is on par with the smallest Left Bank commune of Saint-Julien AOC in the Médoc. In 1998, there were 784 hectares of grape vines planted within the AOC boundaries producing 36,066 hectoliters (≈ 952,763 gallons or 400,733 cases) of wine.〔 In 2003 there were 150 declared producers in Pomerol harvesting 780 ha and producing a year average of 32,250 hl (around 358,333 cases) of wine. Almost all the wine is estate-bottled. Unlike other French wine regions, such as Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, there are no co-operatives currently operating in Pomerol.〔 By 2007, the number of planted hectares had risen slightly to 800 ha (1980 acres).〔Oz Clarke ''Bordeaux'' pgs 194-205 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 2007) ISBN 0151013004 〕 While many Pomerol wines now fetch very high prices at wine auctions and in the private market on a par with the most highly rated classified growths of Bordeaux, there is no official classification of Pomerol wine. However, the region does contains one property widely held to be equivalent to ''premier cru'': Château Pétrus.〔〔 ==History== The Pomerol region, and its northern border, the Barbanne river was historically considered the frontier boundary between the north where people spoke the Langues d'oïl and the south where they spoke the Langue d'oc.〔 Though it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when grapes were first planted in the Pomerol region there is enough evidence to show that viticulture was present in the area during the time of the Romans.〔 H. Johnson & J. Robinson ''The World Atlas of Wine'' pgs 106-107 Mitchell Beazley Publishing 2005 ISBN 1-84000-332-4 〕 Similarly there is uncertainty as to the origins of the name "Pomerol", although there is some speculation that it stems from the Latin word ''poma'' which refers to a fruit bearing seeds and is the origin of the French word ''pomme'', meaning apple. This theory is supported by the region's long history of polyculture with many other crops, particularly fruits and grains, being cultivated in the area long before viticulture became a primary focus.〔 In 1270, the English founded the city of Libourne, which may have brought the vineyards of Pomerol to wider attention. However, as with most of Bordeaux, the wines of Pomerol were of lesser repute than the wines from further up the Garonne in the present-day departments of Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot-et-Garonne. The area's location along the major pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain also attracted the interest of the Knights Hospitaller, returning Crusaders who set up several hostels and hospitals in the region. Several of these establishments, such as the Gazin hospital, which was first mentioned in 1288, are now the sites of modern vineyards and wineries such as Château Gazin. The Knights remained in the region for several centuries, even helping to replant vineyards that were devastated by Hundred Years War.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pomerol AOC」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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