Château Clinet, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, 2015

Overview of the Wine
Modest but sure of its presence, Clinet lies at one of the highest points upon the renowned plateau at the heart of Pomerol - instantly recognisable by its red shutters and beautiful roses. It is home to one of the oldest vineyards in the appellation, with traces of the vineyard's existence, with the name Clinet, dating back to 1595. This vineyard is equally famed for offering wine with an incomparable character and quality.

Once known as 'The Marathon Man' - Ronan is used to leading from the front. Talented and determined in everything he does, he began to manage the Clinet estate in 2004, which has been in his family since 1999. He along with the rest of the Clinet 'family' has been engaged in substantial transformations: replanting, developing environmentally-friendly practices, rebuilding the winemaking facilities and reorganising Clinet's distribution.

Winemaker
Ronan Laborde

Grape / Blend
90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc

Origin
Pomerol, Bordeuax, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Modest but sure of its presence, Clinet lies at one of the highest points upon the renowned plateau at the heart of Pomerol - instantly recognisable by its red shutters and beautiful roses. It is home to one of the oldest vineyards in the appellation, but also one of the most famed for offering wine with such incomparable character and quality. A treasury from Pomerol, located on the soils of the best Merlots in the world. Château Clinet is an elegant, intense wine with fine and complex aromas of red fruit, blackberries and spices.

99 Points - James Suckling
An immaculate wine with pristine blackberries and dark plums as well as fresh, earthy nuances and dark crushed violets. An upright palate with lightly peppery dark berries and plums. The inflection of cabernet here makes for an impressively powerful wine that still exudes Pomerol’s suave, seductive charm. Chalky, seamless tannins. Super fresh. Try from 2022.

99 Points - The Wine Cellar Insider
If you like truffle, you're going to dig this wine. From there, you discover campfire, licorice black cherry, plum, jam and underbrush. On the palate is where the real action takes place. With the perfect balance between density and lift, everything comes together in the decadently textured, silky textured, fruit filled finish. 99 Points

98 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Château Clinet from this terrific estate is up there with some of the finest vintages out there. A blend of 90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it has a concentrated, powerful style not far from the 2005 and offers loads of spiced blackberries and cassis fruits intermixed with notions of lead pencil, tobacco, and a distinct gravelly minerality. Rich, powerful and admirably endowed on the palate, with serious tannins, it's best forgotten for 4-6 years and should keep for two decades or more.

97 Points - Wine Advocate
A blend of 90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 1% Cabernet Franc matured in 65% new and 35% one-year-old French oak for 16 months, the 2015 Clinet offers a medium to deep garnet-purple color and slowly, provocatively unfurls in the glass with notes of crushed black cherries, warm black raspberries and red cherry compote plus nuances of bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, fenugreek and forest floor and wafts of potpourri and mocha. The palate reveals a sensuous medium-bodied style offset beautifully by very firm, very silky tannins and packed with energetic, multifaceted fruit as well as great tension, finishing long with an arresting spice and floral perfume. A real stunner!

96 Points - Wine Independent
The 2015 Clinet is medium garnet colored. It offers fragrant scents of kirsch, redcurrant jelly, and juicy blackberries, plus hints of violets, licorice, and tilled soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers fantastic tension and energy, with plush tannins and bags of juicy black fruits, finishing very long and spritely.

96 Points - Vinous
The 2015 Clinet has a beautifully delineated bouquet, quite floral in style with rose petal and iris scents filtering through the red fruit. A second bottle is a little distant with more pronounced crushed stone aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, a fine bead of acidity, but those tannins tend to dominate the finish that feels a little mean. I think this is enduring a very dumb phase and should not be broached for a few years. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

Product size: 750ml