Château L'Eglise Clinet, Pomerol, 2018

Name: Château L'Eglise Clinet, Pomerol
Brand: Château L'Eglise Clinet
Price: 1049.12 GBP

Available Vintages

all 1995 2006 2009 2012 2018 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

justerini & brooks tasting note

Produced from a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 L'Eglise Clinet is rather brutish. It's a large scale Pomerol with lots of dark brooding tannins and a smoky, stony character. It feels like there is a depth and authority here, but the fruit is not really evident. With aeration some damson and gravelly cassis notes emerge, but this feels deeply introverted, almost reclusive. The tannins are large scale and serious. It's a wine we want to love, but at this stage we will defer judgement. If it can flesh out during élevage it might be rather special.

critic reviews

98/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

L’Eglise-Clinet 2018 has a deep garnet purple color. It leaps with notes of violets and chocolate box, giving way to prunes, baked black cherries, and dried mulberries, plus hints of incense and dusty soil, with a waft of bay leaves. Medium to full-bodied, it is tightly wound, very minerally in the mouth with impressively intertwined freshness, finishing long and quietly intense.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2064

date of review 02/2023

97/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

An unmissable wine from the late Denis Durantou, the kind of wine that reminds you why it is still sometimes worth buying En Primeur to be sure you get your allocation. This is always a serious Pomerol that rewards patience, and here wraps up its hedonistic chocolate-dipped blueberry and blacberry fruits in poised, carefully chiselled tannins. Olives, tar, liquorice and campfire smoke curl out of the glass after a few moments. 70% new oak, harvest September 18 to 28. Low and slow fermentation at around 22C, ensuring that even once the grapes were off the vines they were still unhurried. 45hl/ha yield.

DRINKING WINDOW 2027 - 2044

date of review 10/2021

97/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2018 L’Eglise-Clinet was picked from September 18 to 26 for the Merlot and September 28 for the the Cabernet Franc, and matured in 70% new oak. I gave the bottle a precautionary four-hour decant, which was vital in appreciating this magnificent Pomerol. The aromatics are precocious, pure and finely chiseled, featuring copious black plum and blueberry plus heart-melting violet petal scents. The palate closely approximates the barrel sample with its stunning precision and symmetry. Velvety-smooth from start to finish, this will turn into a fabulous wine from the late Denis Durantou, though be warned: I suspect it might close down for a period after bottling.

DRINKING WINDOW 2028 - 2050

date of review 03/2021