Château L'Eglise Clinet, Pomerol, 2020
Produced from a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, the 2021 is a little introverted, but has all the potential to be another splendid wine from one of Pomerol's most successful and consistent addresses. Tobacco leaf, flowers, blood orange, a hint of black cherry and a touch of toast. A lively, vibrant core of pure seductive raspberry plays with layers of savoury earthy notes. Not the most formidable Eglise Clinet, but there's plenty of underlying power. This finishes with well-judged tannins flecked with bittersweet berries, gravelly minerals and graphite. Lots of quality here.
critic reviews
The 2020 L'Eglise-Clinet has a very intense bouquet with multi-layered red and black fruit, cedar and iron scents—complex and engaging, though there is a touch of oak still to be assimilated. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe, saturated tannins. Satin-textured, seamless and very precise with an irresistible, youthful, sensual finish, this is a brilliant wine that needs a few years in bottle (if you can resist). Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2020 L'Eglise Clinet wafts from the glass with aromas of dark berries, mulberries, cherries and cassis mingled with notions of espresso roast, loamy soil, violets and truffle framed by creamy new oak. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's a rich, youthfully firm, muscularly constructed young Pomerol that will richly reward bottle age.
The 2020 L'Eglise-Client, made from 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. It opens with wonderfully fragrant notes of violets, dark chocolate, aniseed, and forest floor, leading to a core of preserved plums and black cherry preserves, plus a touch of cast-iron pan. The medium to full-bodied palate explodes with tons of juicy black fruit layers, supported by velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long with a whole array of baking spice, black berry, and minerally accents.
So much depth, character and density. Hugely rich in its dark damson, bilberry and chocolate character, sliced off pieces of dark slate, pummice stone and crushed rock. Hard not to smile at the pleasure contained in this bottle. It is both very much rooted in Pomerol and yet not at all Pomerol, both brooding and fabulous. Secure your bottle. 50% new oak, harvest September 9 to 16.