Clos du Clocher 2025

A great Pomerol in the making. Really floral and so perfumed with violets and iris notes. Heady aromatics, so intense and concentrated yet so precise and clean too with really delineated scents. Juicy and bright with strawberry and red cherry, the acidity up front while the fine tannins gently coat the sides of the mouth in a chalky powderiness. Grippy with volume and a lot of tannins but they're so well handled and will soften and round over ageing. Serious but lots to like here – I really like the brightness. Salivating, salty, clean and focused. 3.54pH. 91 IPT. A yield of 32hl/ha. Ageing 58% new oak, 33% one-year-old barrels, 10% small vats and wine globes.

If the cherries, black raspberries, and wet-earth notes in the perfume do not get you going, the intense floral aromatics promise to capture your attention. The palate is silky, vibrant, and fresh. There is lift and refinement to all the sweet red berries and pit fruits. The finish is refined, long, and lifted, leaving you with recurring impressions of supple-textured fruits, cocoa, and freshness on your palate. Give it a year or two in the bottle before pulling a cork, and enjoy it with pleasure for the next 20-25 or more years easily. Harvesting took place September 4 - September 23. The wine blends 78% Merlot with 22% Cabernet Franc. 13.3% ABV. Yields were 32 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2029-2055. 94-96 Pts

Packed full of muscular tannins, each strand feeling luscious and silky, deep intense fruit, this is Pomerol at its heart, black chocolate, cocoa bean, olive tapenade, red rose petals, creamy blueberry fruits. Harvest finished here on September 23, started September 4. A little less Cabernet Franc than in some years, simply a reflection of the yield of the berries. Jean-Baptiste Bourotte once again making one of the wines of the vintage in Pomerol.

The bouquet of this Clos du Clocher encapsulates one of the vintage’s key achievements: forging a link between ripeness and freshness without either one dominating the other. It inevitably calls to mind an ideal marriage. The inviting character of ripe dark berries blends with aromas of mint, aniseed and peonies; the harmony is already remarkably accomplished on the nose. Smooth on the attack, the wine then follows a precise, linear path. It brims with power, yet never seeks to flaunt it, preferring instead to combine it with the incisive edge of its acidity, thereby underlining this emerging harmony. I have rarely tasted a Clos du Clocher with such power, and I can only applaud its extraordinary ability to channel it and to further enhance the balance it showcases. This wine displays a serenity that is the result of its evolution over time. It has gained in confidence; though we have long known it to be excellent—even brilliant—it has crossed a threshold where it can stand among an elite without fear of comparison. An ambitious, high-performing, convincing and moving wine, all the more so as it retains a modesty that has only strengthened its greatness.

Deep, dark color. Intense, refined, fruity nose, with hints of violet and black fruits. With aeration, it becomes more complex, showing vanilla notes. Precise on the attack, very aromatic through the mid-palate, with a rich texture and an impressive progression of flesh and finely detailed flavors, the wine glides across the palate full and velvety, leading to a long, complex finish. A marvel and a remarkable achievement given the challenging conditions in Pomerol this year. Bravo! Blend: 78% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Franc. Alcohol: 13.3% - pH: 3.55. Yield: 32 hl/ha. Production: 16,000 bottles.

A bouquet that leaves you speechless: violet blossoms, cherries, blackberries, plums—ripe fruit, yet with a cool, fresh expression; a powerful palate with great intensity, juicy fruit, carried by sensational tannins; the finish is impressive. A Clos du Clocher of the highest quality, powerful and built to last for a little eternity.