Château Feytit-Clinet 2022

This sports a ripe and velvety profile, offering dark currant, blackberry and black cherry compote notes that roll through steadily, with background support from warm humus, sweet tobacco and licorice root accents. Streaks of chestnut and alder on the finish lend nice contrast and cut while keeping ample fruit to spare. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2038. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 1,000 cases made, 100 cases imported.

Intense aromatics, dark bramble fruit, purple flowers and cool cola and cedar elements. Smooth and supple, more joyful than the nose suggests with bouncy acidity and finely muscular tannins that support the concentrated fruit. Feels clean and polished with lots of energy and style. Ends chalky with liquorice, bitter orange and an iron tang. Finessed and powerful, this should grow into a beauty. One to seek out.

Blackberries, black beans, black olives and dried flowers on the nose. Walnuts and hints of cedar, too. It’s full-bodied, creamy and seamless, with ripe and fine tannins accompanying the succulent black fruit. Long and delicious. Drink from 2027.

The 2022 Feytit-Clinet is dark, pliant and expressive. Dark red fruit, blood orange, spice, cedar, new leather and a kiss of French oak all build in the glass. The 2022 shows all the natural richness that is typical of Feytit-Clinet, but with brighter fruit, more freshness and less barrel toast impact that was once the norm. This opens beautifully over time, offering a captivating interplay of finesse and power.

Floral and plummy on the nose, with additional swirling bringing out notes of cocoa and truffle. On the palate, the wine immediately reveals layers of earthy plums, cherries, and chocolate. Concentrated, rich, and creamy, with vibrancy, length, and suppleness, this is a stunning expression of Feytit-Clinet. The blend is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2027–2055.

Dark ruby garnet colour with an opaque core and subtle reflections, delicate brightening at the rim. Tobacco, some leather, plums with a nutty note in the background, a hint of dried fruit. Juicy, opulent and sweet, somewhat fluid texture, mineral, a touch of nougat and woody savouriness on the finish, mellow tannins on the aftertaste.

One of the more powerful wines of the vintage, the 2022 Château Feytit Clinet delivers an almost Petrus-like structure and density, along with a stunning nose of ripe red, blue, and black fruits interwoven with leafy herbs, chocolate, tobacco, and truffles. With full-bodied richness, a deep, layered mid-palate, nicely integrated smoky oak, and a blockbuster finish, this brilliant wine should be snapped up by savvy readers. Ideally give it 4–6 years in the cellar, but you’ll be forgiven for opening bottles now. It should cruise for two decades, if not longer. The 2022 is 88% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc, from the Clinet, Latour, and Feytit lieux-dits, aged in 70% new barrels. It reached 14.5% alcohol with a solid pH of 3.75.

Delicate black-berry bouquet, Brazilian tobacco, chocolate pastilles, licorice, and an alluring violet perfume. On the complex palate, a silky texture, cocoa-like tannin frame, perfectly supporting freshness, and a tightly knit body. The focused, aromatic finish shows wild cherry, Sichuan pepper, and a finely powdery astringency.

Excellent signature appellation, great balance, real depth of flavor, and while there are a ton of tannins here, they are smooth and integrated, concentrated; this is a serious wine with serious aging potential, and it’s absolutely one to look out for. Damson and black cherry fruit abound, with cocoa bean and incense notes. A buy. 70% new oak.

Confitured dark fruits, blackcurrant and a touch of violet form a classic aromatic bouquet, but very pleasing even if it lacks a bit of whimsy. The palate is pure delicacy, with exquisite, chiselled, and charming texture. Even the tannins rise to the occasion, gently caressing the palate.

Feytit-Clinet immediately reveals depth and complexity. It shines with its many details and its ability to showcase its terroir, the very place it comes from. Complex, it offers notes of peony, elderberry, and blueberry, along with hints of peppermint and a touch of graphite. On the palate, the wine is dense and precise, with powerful yet measured tannins that stand out for their serenity and their ability to channel their vigor with great delicacy. Savory and mouthwatering, the wine shows a saline touch on the finish, which further underscores its freshness, while the fruit expression lingers. I had tasted it en primeur, but not at this level. Mea culpa!

The nose is complex, a little tight at the moment and would benefit from decanting. It shows notes of violet, blackcurrant and, more subtly, ripe wild berries, with touches of licorice stick and black tea, a hint of almost aromatic herbs and saline gravel, as well as a note of sweet pepper. The palate is beautifully fruity and offers minerality, freshness, tension, and just the right creaminess, with a lovely slight roundness and softness. We find notes of pulpy, juicy blackcurrant, pulpy/juicy purple plum, and cornflower, combined with touches of elegantly roasted raspberry, as well as a note of aromatic herbs (also present on the nose), tobacco, graphene, and hints of smoke. A subtle, almost sappy hint of verbena in the background and discreet touches of mocha. The tannins are racy, precise, fine and supple. Delicious, gourmet hints of toast and chocolate and a touch of coffee linger on the finish.

Very deep color. Intense nose, fruity and lightly toasty. Silky on the attack, fruity and lightly toasty mid-palate, the wine lacks the bright, vibrant fruit I usually find on the finish. Medium length. Blend: 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Alcohol: 14.9%. Yield: 34 hl/ha.