The occasion - the top-ticket item of the 12th Annual Masters of Food and Wine at the Highlands Inn in Carmel, California - was a legendary tasting of eight vintages of Pétrus spanning the years from 1971 to the just-released 1995. The February 25 tasting was the culmination of a nine-year effort by Highlands Inn Vice President and General Manager David Fink to persuade Moueix to present his wines. Even with tickets priced at $495 apiece, the event quickly sold out.

The opportunity to taste eight vintages of Château Pétrus - even at the equivalent price of about $60 per glass - was an irresistible lure for those in attendance. "Even I rarely have the chance to sample so many of these wines at the same time," the 51-year-old Moueix exclaimed. At this price level, it's understandable that spit buckets were nowhere to be found.

Wine lovers tend to loosen the purse strings when it comes to Pétrus. New releases can be priced as high as $895, which is what Bel-Air/Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants in West Los Angeles is asking for a single bottle of the 1995 vintage. The 1996 Pétrus is being offered by this ultra-premium retailer on a pre-paid, futures basis for $795 per bottle. An examination of this retailer's impressive 1998 catalog, Vintages, reveals that Pétrus and Le Pin offerings going back to the 1981 vintage (the year of the first Le Pin release) constantly compete with each other for the higher price, with Le Pin costing more than Pétrus for years 1981 through 1988 and 1994, and current vintages of Pétrus edging those of Le Pin by a few dollars. For vintages 1989 and 1990, prospective customers are urged to "inquire" as to Pétrus, whereas Le Pin is offered for those years at $1,495 and $1,595 per bottle, respectively. The most expensive bottle of Pétrus in this collection, listed at $3,200, is from 1948. Consequently, while it's no longer accurate to refer to Pétrus as "undoubtedly the world's most expensive red wine," in some years that may be the case, and in any event it's certainly never inexpensive.

Collectors may also reap great rewards from Pétrus. Recent London auction sales results at Sotheby's show that as of January 1998, U.K. buyers were willing to spend $820 per bottle for the 1989 Pétrus, compared to $745 for the same vintage of Le Pin, while "Far Eastern" buyers bid a couple of lots of the 1982 Pétrus up to $1,300 and $1,400 per bottle. Heady stuff, this Merlot.

The ultimate (or sometimes penultimate) collector's wine, Pétrus comes from a small, 11.5 hectare (28.4 acres) vineyard named in honor of St. Peter and located on an elevated plateau in the eastern point of Pomerol, some 500 meters north of the border of the commune of Saint-Émilion. It is only at this site that the topsoil and subsoil are composed almost entirely of heavy clay rich in iron, in contrast to the more prevalent soil mixture of gravel and sand or clay and sand found in the vineyards of adjacent properties. In contrast, the tiny, barely 1.2-hectare (3-acre) Le Pin vineyard less than a mile away on the Pomerol plateau consists of iron-enriched, gravelly soil.

While clay is theoretically unsuitable for high-quality vines because it tends to become waterlogged, in contrast to gravel, which allows drainage, the presence of iron deposits in the clay of the Pétrus vineyard promotes a special form of water management in which merlot vines not only flourish, but also produce berries that yield exceptionally lush and voluptuous wines of great depth and longevity. Consequently, the vineyard is planted almost entirely to merlot (95 percent), with just 5 percent planted to cabernet franc. No other vineyard in Pomerol is so thoroughly dedicated to merlot, except for the 100 percent merlot vineyard of nearby La Fleur de Gay, the superior cuvée of La Croix de Gay.

Meticulously cultivated and tended more like a garden, the vineyard yields less than 2.5 tons per acre. In many years, the cab franc doesn't ripen thoroughly, and is excluded from the cuvée. With or without the cab franc, however, Pétrus, compared to most of the first growths of the Médoc, is made in a style that requires more patience from the collector who desires a mature wine, as it offers massive concentration and intense richness early on. The vines are unusually old for Pomerol and are replanted only after they reach 70 years of age. Replanting takes place plot by plot, instead of vine by vine, in order to ensure that the average age of the vines is maintained at a high level.

Pétrus receives the care of a pampered child. "Because of the size of the vineyard and because we have a dedicated team of pickers, we can harvest the entire crop in one day," Moueix explained. "We will pick in the morning only one year in ten, when we have to," he continued, "but prefer to pick in the afternoon, after the morning dew has evaporated. The difference in ripeness can be as much as one-degree Brix because of the dew." A meticulous selection at harvest ensures that only the most pristine fruit is vinified.

Encouraging concentration by limiting yield requires crop thinning at Pétrus from the time the grapes first appear. The process is referred to as a "green harvest." "I began thinning the crop in 1971," Moueix recalls, "and it created quite a scandal. I was condemned by the other owners at the time for destroying the Lord's bounty - even the local priest joined in the condemnation. To avoid detection, I remember stuffing the unripe grapes into plastic bags and taking them to the river at night so nobody would see me disposing of them. Green harvest was a very radical theory at the time." Now, of course, it's common practice.

"Normally, we aim for eight clusters per vine," Moueix says. "If the yield is much lower than that - if there's too much crop thinning - the wine will be too tannic."

Winemaking at Pétrus is overseen by Moueix, who is ably assisted by enologist Jean-Claude Berrouet. As the youngest son of renowned négociant Jean-Pierre Moueix, Christian grew up in an environment devoted to wine and determined early on to become a wine producer. He studied agricultural engineering in Paris, and went on to graduate studies in viticulture and enology at UC-Davis. In 1970, he became a director of Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, his father's enormously successful négociant firm, and was entrusted with the responsibility of administering the 20 estates owned or farmed by the company, including, among others, Pétrus, Trotanoy and La Fleur-Pétrus in Pomerol, Château Magdelaine in Saint-Émilion and Château Dauphine in Fronsac. Today, Christian Moueix is president of the firm, and is also the owner of Dominus, a Napa Valley estate devoted to producing a red blend in the Bordeaux style.

Despite all that background, winemaking at Pétrus is comparatively old-fashioned and quite basic. Fermented in cement vats, the wine is aged in 100 percent new oak barrels for 22 to 28 months. Prior to bottling, the wine is clarified with five fresh egg whites per barrel. Moueix says Pétrus is not filtered for fear of stripping away some of its remarkable richness.

"What we try to achieve is harmony," Moueix explains. "It's my ultimate goal in winemaking, and from time to time I may achieve it accidentally." The quest for harmony doesn't mean crafting the wine. "You don't have to be very smart to make great wine from great grapes," he says. "The secret is not to overdo the winemaking. Too much technique smothers great wine." Even though Pétrus is a very concentrated wine, it is a product of the fruit from a vineyard blessed with unique soil. "We avoid over-extracting the wine," Moueix reveals.

Chronology of a Château

During the 19th Century, Pétrus belonged to the Arnaud family and encompassed only 6.5 hectares (about 16 acres) planted in a traditional mix of 70 percent merlot and 30 percent cabernet franc. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Arnauds founded La Société Civile du Château Pétrus, offering shares in the company to the public. Madame Loubat, wife of the owner of the Hôtel Loubat in Libourne, began to acquire the shares in 1925, and by 1949, she owned the domaine outright.

At the end of World War II, Pétrus produced an extraordinary wine, as did many Bordeaux properties in 1945. It was this vintage that brought Pétrus to the attention of wine buyers internationally, and locally confirmed the estimation of the vineyard's potential held by Christian Moueix's father, Jean-Pierre Moueix. His company of wine merchants, Ets. Jean-Pierre Moueix, was the most influential négociant house of the "right bank" of the Dordogne, including the merlot-dominated appellations of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion.

The company acquired exclusive selling rights of Pétrus in 1945, and in 1964, three years after the death of Mme. Loubat, it acquired a 50 percent interest in the domaine by buying the shares of one of her two heirs. Today, Pétrus is owned by Jean-Pierre Moueix and Madame Lily Paul Lacoste, Mme. Loubat's niece. It is administered by Ets. Jean-Pierre Moueix and, particularly, by Christian Moueix.

In 1969, Pétrus was enlarged to its present size with the purchase of five hectares (about 12.5 acres) from Château Gazin, and, thereafter, the current varietal composition of 95 percent merlot/5 percent cabernet franc was obtained by replanting.

Tasting the Wine

What would be the "perfect Pétrus?" "I have the concept of the 'perfect wine' in my head, and I always use this for comparison," Moueix explains. "But I have not yet produced the perfect wine. There probably is no such thing," he declares. "Even if I thought I had the perfect wine, it's one thing to drink such a wine with one's wife, and quite something else to drink the same wine with someone else's wife.

"The ultimate Pétrus is a wine to enjoy now, in 10 years and in 20 years," Moueix continues. While the "perfect wine" may always be out of reach - more a concept than a reality - Moueix clearly has a favorite among the vintages produced to date. During the tasting portion of the seminar, he allowed as how "I'll never make a better wine than the '89. It will age forever."

A product of unique terroir, Pétrus has long been described as a wine of incredible power, depth and richness, yet possessing an exquisite balance that facilitates its remarkable longevity. It is equally famous for its silky texture.

The master sommeliers assisting at the tasting at the Highlands Inn opened all the bottles, except the 1971 and 1975, about one hour before the tasters arrived at 10:30 in the morning, decanting the wine and returning it to bottle. The older vintages were decanted and served immediately thereafter at the final portion of the proceedings. The wines were evaluated and discussed in descending order of vintage - youngest to oldest.

1995: Dark purple and opaque in appearance. A slow-to-open nose of black cherry-berry fruit, cocoa, warm spice and a hint of smokiness. Smooth and luscious in the mouth, offering ripe, extracted black fruit, vanilla and a note of tobacco leaf. A full-bodied wine with medium-full tannins, the just-released 1995 Pétrus is still very much a work in progress, with obvious extraction and depth, but a slight dilution in the finish - the consequence of September rain. "Good, but not very expressive yet," Moueix concludes. The "1995 is the first great vintage of the '90s after the 1990 itself," he declares. "We absolutely needed to make a great wine." He did.

1993: Smaller in scale than the '95, reflecting the vintage, the 1993 Pétrus offers attractive black fruit in the nose mingled with hints of sandalwood, coconut, smoky oak and mild herbaceousness. Clean and firm in the mouth with nicely defined, although somewhat lean flavors that replicate the nose and linger nicely in the finish. "Not a top vintage, just average," Moueix explains. Nevertheless, the wine is better than would be expected in the context of the vintage because crop thinning turned out to be too severe, and yield dropped below two tons per acre. "Our mistake resulted in this better-than-average wine," Moueix says.

1990: Deep ruby color, quite "California-like" in appearance, according to Moueix. In fact, there are a lot of California characteristics here: Intense, super-ripe black-fruit extraction balanced against full tannins, enormous depth, lush, silky texture and superb mouth-feel with intriguing facets of tobacco leaf, chocolate and vanillin oak. "Men usually like the '90 over the '89 because they drink for pleasure," Moueix says. "Women prefer the '89 because they are more discriminating."

1989: A perfect Pétrus with everything one would expect from this producer offered up in harmonious balance and exhibiting exquisite finesse. Powerful and deep on the palate with perfectly ripe black fruit, tobacco leaf and green olive herbaceousness intertwining in complex layers of flavor that almost defy description. The aromatics of the wine are true harbingers of the flavors to follow, focusing on black cherry-blackberry fruit, cocoa, vanilla and a hint of smoke, enhanced by an attractive herbaceousness. A gorgeous, complete, extraordinary wine that combines power, depth, texture and concentration in a seamless expression of the uniqueness that is Pétrus.

1988: This cool year produced a wine more in

the classic style with pronounced herbaceousness and a note of red meat adding particular nuance to the nose of attractive black fruit, vanillin oak and coconut-like spice. Wonderfully silky texture combines with linear grip and focus in a harmonious wine that exhibits no excess in any element; perfectly balanced and even a bit racy. "The greenness will probably disappear over time," Moueix speculates, comparing the 1988 to the '66 Pétrus.

1982: A beautifully mature wine that excites the mind as much as the palate. The fragrant nose that hints of Port and white pepper leads to an intensely complex palate of evolved, bright black fruit and spice, held together by still firm tannins. A classic, slightly reserved Bordeaux comparable to the '47 Pétrus. According to Moueix, this wine "is unpredictable, like a woman. One never knows what to expect. It truly absorbs the mood of the taster, so to evaluate the wine, you must be aware of what you did the night before; 'How was your breakfast? Is the weather pleasant?' and so on."

1975: Very pleasant and appealing scents of tobacco leaf, mild spice and ripe, almost Port-like black fruit are replicated on the palate, offering elegance and class. The sweetness of the fruit is particularly appealing. A generous wine that is evolved and harmonious. "This wine was made in the same style as the '88," Moueix explains. "It is a typical Merlot 25 years later."

1971: Forward, moderately herbaceous nose exhibiting the characteristic Pétrus elements of mocha or cocoa, sweet black fruit and mild vanilla. Smooth and silky in the mouth with luscious, complex flavors that replicate the nose, and are less Port-like than the '75. The wine's texture is superb, and the length is awesome. A wine that is both charming and powerful.

Humble though the domaine may be in appearance, devoid of a grand edifice and the trappings of aristocratic wealth and power, Pétrus possesses something far more important in its unique and singular vineyard, which can produce wines distinguishable from all others that rely on merlot for their substance. Indeed, Pétrus is more than Merlot. It is the paramount embodiment of great red wine and, thus, a wine collector's ultimate dream.

Contributing Editor Steve Pitcher is a freelance wine writer whose "Vintner's Choice" column appears regularly on the Internet in "Sally's Place" (www.bpe.com). Based in San Francisco, he is vice president of the Vintners Club and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the German Wine Society.