Tasting Note:
2019 turned out to be Denis Durantou’s swansong. He was a remarkably talented man, who always captured the vintage and at times mastered it. His 2013s are a case in point – few vignerons could reach those heights in such a drab year. His 2019s will be his last creations, his farewell gifts to the world. These are generous, beautifully textured wines, full of energy and vim. His flagship L’Eglise Clinet has produced so many superb wines over the years, and 2019 will certainly rank up there with the best. The bouquet is like a grand ouverture – it is immediately gratifying and hugely complex. Notes of fine cedar, iris, eucalyptus, loganberries, clove, sweet damsons, fruit cake and then a fine weave of minerals leads to a pure and refined palate of sweet damsons, griottes, crème de mûre, flecks of graphite and blood orange. It’s vivid and structured, with a deep core of intense, tightly wound fruit, but also has the sense of generosity, swathes of luxuriant berries, flecks of minerals and spice; it’s harmonious and beautifully constructed. As with all great vintages of L’Eglise Clinet, the tannins are of epic proportions, they provide a counterbalance to the abundance of fruit, providing backbone, detail and length. Immensely long and complex, there is such precision here, defined, long, noble flavours delight the taste buds. A really profound L’Eglise Clinet. Spectacular!