Château L'Eglise Clinet, Pomerol, 2025
Produced from a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2025 L'Eglise Clinet has all the potential to be another splendid wine from one of Pomerol's most successful and consistent addresses. Tobacco leaf, peonies, blood orange, a hint of black cherry and a touch of toast. This keeps revealing additional floral notes. At its heart, there's a deep, savoury core, packed with fine minerals and sophisticated berry fruit: plum, blackcurrants, blackberry, pure raspberry and morello cherry with hints of clove. Complex and grown-up with a sophisticated complexity that seems very assured. This is so well- judged, a wine that balances huge concentration with harmony and grace.
critic reviews
The 2025 L'Eglise-Clinet was picked on 4 and 5 September for the Merlot and the same days plus 12 September for the Cabernet Franc; this vintage matured in 75% new oak. The aromatics are timid at first, but unfurl in the glass, revealing enticing scents of raspberry, wild strawberry, truffle oil and cedar. The oak is beautifully integrated, and it gains delineation with each swirl. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine tannins, one of the most mineral-driven L'Eglise-Clinet wines that I have tasted from barrel, gaining cohesion and poise, with perfectly judged acidity and a gentle but insistent grip on the finish. There is a verticality to this Pomerol that gives it a more cerebral slant compared to the 2022, but it is still quite delicious. That said, I would still give it a few years in bottle.
Luscious dark cassis and bilberry fruits, pure perfume, peony and red rose petals, a standout in Pomerol, there is an enveloping and expansive mid palate with full on fennel and anis on close of play, so good, a wine full of emotion and grace. 75% new oak. Harvest September 4 to 12. Cooler fermentation than usual, not higher than 28C, because thick skins. 3.5ph. 4.5ha, so only 3 tanks compared to 5 normally, 30hll/ha. Olivier Guatraut cellar master with Noémie Durantou winemaker.