Chateau L'Eglise-Clinet, Pomerol 2022

The 2022 L'Eglise-Clinet was picked from 3 to 9 September for the Merlot and the Cabernet Franc on 5 and 9 September, matured in 85% new oak. It has an exquisitely-defined bouquet with brief floral, pressed iris and clay notes percolating through the black fruit. With breathtaking focus, these scents seem to cast a spell over you. 

The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chalky tannins that frame the mineral-laden, peppery black fruit. There's not a hair out of place, exuding the essence of this Pomerol estate with an exceptionally long, intense and paradoxically tender finish. It's a wine that may leave you spellbound...just like this barrel sample. 

Drink 2032 - 2075

Turns the intensity and exoticism of the vintage on its head, unpacking it carefully and layering up depth and character. Grilled cedar, fleshy damson, and cassis fruits are all about carefully-considered and delivered juice and flavour.

Intense, with balance, carefully-extracted juice, and the precision you want at L'Eglise Clinet, even in such an overwhelming vintage. 85% new oak, harvest September 3 to 9. Noemie Durantou and Olivier Gautrat.

Drink 2030 - 2050

A delicious take on the vintage with power and seduction delivered delicately with purity and refinement. Gorgeous florality and aromatic expression on the nose combining fruity blackcurrants and violets with sweet milk chocolate, salted caramel and liquorice.

Juicy and succulent on the palate, supple with well-integrated tannins that support the concentrated fruit but also deliver coolness and freshness throughout. Not dense at all but still has a generous weight with direction and focus. Graceful and characterful, not pushed but delivering everything you want with minerality also at the fore. Already so approachable, too; it’s a wine I wanted to drink and finish in situ.

A yield of 32hl/ha. Aged in 60% new oak barrels. Harvest 31 August - 7 September.

Drink 2030 - 2050

Offering up deep aromas of mulberries and cassis mingled with incense, liquorice, rose petals, spices and hints of new oak, the 2022 L'Eglise Clinet is full-bodied, deep and layered, with an elegantly muscular core of ripe but vibrant fruit that's framed by sweet, powdery tannins. 

Concentrated and multidimensional, it concludes with a long, resonant finish. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, harvested between September 3 and 9, this compelling Pomerol checks in at a largely concealed 14.6% alcohol.

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 an excellent 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.

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with a pH of 3.6, L’Eglise Clinet 2022 was picked between the 3rd and 9th of September and is ageing in 85% new oak. 

It has a deep garnet-purple colour, and after a swirl or two, vibrant notes of crushed black plums, boysenberry preserves, and lilacs soar from the glass, followed by hints of menthol, wood smoke, crushed rocks, and sandalwood. 

Medium to full-bodied, the palate is electric, delivering energetic black fruit and mineral layers with a firm, fine-grained texture and lovely tension, finishing long and earthy. Very seductive!

Drink 2029 - 2059

The 2022 L'Eglise-Clinet is fabulous. Rich, deep and layered, with tremendous purity, the 2022 is already exceptionally well balanced. Dark fruit, gravel, liquorice, dried herbs and lavender emerge, but only with great reluctance. 

Even so, there is something incredibly complete about the 2022 that is hard to describe with words, but it is most definitely there! L'Eglise-Clinet is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage on the Right Bank.

Drink 2030 - 2052