2022 L'Eglise Clinet
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Tasting Notes
This is the wine that everyone is looking for. Produced in tiny quantities, L’Eglise Clinet is one of the finest wines on the Right Bank in 2022. Floral and exuberant red-fruit aromas leap from the glass with excellent definition, complemented by savoury notes of tobacco leaves, spice and white truffle which hold your attention. The palate is saline with very fine tannins, precise and straight to the point, while the wine opens up on the mid-palate – richer, with the energy and tension you expect from such a great wine. The crystalline finish offers even more generous dark red fruit and lasts for minutes. This is exemplary. Amazing work by the Durantou family producing such a complete and complex wine. You’ll be rewarded by 10 years in the cellar, but this is so balanced it can be drunk young – and will be stellar if kept for two decades. Blend: 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Wonderful expression of fruit, the aroma an explosion of floral-violet notes. Huge density on the palate, the tannins silky and very long. Lingers on the finish. Fresh, harmonious and definitely for the long haul.
Very floral in its perfume, you also find notes of dark, and milk chocolate, mint, cherry liqueur, plums, and a background touch of espresso. However, it is on the palate where you enjoy the wine at its best. Texturally, this is silk and velvet. There are no hard edges. The fruits are so pure, they taste as if they were just picked from the vineyard. The finish is seamless, moving through its beginning, middle, and end, effortlessly. The sensuous finish sees the 60 second mark and keeps right on going. From a blend of 90% Merlot with 10% Cabernet Franc, 14.60% ABV, 3.6 pH. The harvest took place September 3 - September 9. This is the earliest harvest in the history of the estate. It is great to see continuing strong wines from the Durantou family.
Straight-up gorgeous, I'd put the 2022 Château L'Eglise-Clinet up with the top tier Pomerol in the vintage, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it surpass the 2020 as well. Ripe black cherries, violets, spring flowers, graphite, and tobacco all emerge on the nose, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a layered, elegant mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. Compared to the 2005 by owner Noëmie Durantou (who has done an incredible job taking over the estate after the loss of her father), this rich, concentrated, incredibly impressive Pomerol is going to need 7-8 years of bottle age but will evolve for 30 years in cold cellars.
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About the producer
Ch. l'Eglise-Clinet is one of the most unassuming wine estates in Bordeaux. You'd probably drive past it if you didn't have prior knowledge of its vinous output. There's no ostentatious gateway nor sweeping gravel drive.