Château L'Eglise Clinet 2022

A nose that leaves you speechless, a great Pomerol performance, a nose of near-unmatched complexity: violets, dark berries, spicy notes, underpinned by minerality; on the palate it’s compact and dense, a fruit concentrate, masses of the finest tannins that only show at the very back of the palate, great harmony, great length, finishing floral with a hint of raspberry yogurt. A ballet danced at the highest level.

Ripe, fleshy and dense in feel, with full-throated notes of boysenberry and blackberry preserves wrapped in licorice and bramble. The frankly toasted finish offers more than enough fruit to push through, with a late tug of earth to keep everything grounded. For the hedonist crowd. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2027 through 2042. 850 cases made.

Wild strawberries, dried herbs, blueberries, pencil lead and fragrant violets—the aromatics are stunning. You feel the shaping right away: fine but firm, slightly grippy tannins set the frame from which blackcurrant, salty liquorice and dark chocolate emerge, along with sustained florality—the violet accents really making their mark. This is a serious wine, dark and almost heady were it not so cool and fresh. There’s no hint of overt heat or spice on the palate; instead, you get layers of pure fruit, fleshiness and minerality. Juicy and alive too, it really packs a lot and shifts to red berry fruits after a few minutes, with tobacco and slate on the finish. Complex and characterful. A dark horse but a thoroughbred. A wine that, as soon as you’ve tasted it, you want to taste again. 3.65 pH. Higher than usual new oak at 85% compared to 75–80% in a normal year.

Wonderful aromas of crushed violets and wisteria as well as black-truffle undertones and blueberries. Medium- to full-bodied, this has a beautiful center palate and an endless finish. It’s so polished and refined with breathtaking length that caresses every inch of the finish. A masterpiece for the vintage. 90% merlot and 10% cabernet franc. Try after 2030 and beyond.

Tasted blind. Intense and jewelly on the nose. Good energy and freshness. Real drive and not mired in sweetness. Neat and very long. [Favourite wine of the group.] (JR)

The 2022 L'Eglise-Clinet has a complex bouquet, earthier than its peers, sous-bois-infused red berry fruit, cedar and tobacco, again gaining intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, very supple tannins matched by a silver thread of acidity. It closes in a little towards the finish, though you can already feel the persistency on the aftertaste. Excellent. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.

Heart-stopping in every sense of the term, the striking perfume sets the wine off with its showy display of flowers, cocoa, mint leaves, black cherry liqueur, and an array of plums. Texturally, this is all cashmere on the palate. The concentrated fruits are so pure, they taste as if they were just picked from the vineyard. The finish is seamless, looking at the 60-second mark before it builds, expands, and keeps on going. The wine blends 90% Merlot with 10% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2028-2060.

This is a wine that needs time in the bottle and in the glass, serious and well built, with body and character, and it merits extra ageing. The texture takes us into the heart of Pomerol, or rather its heights, with a luscious yet restrained quality and the intellectual edge of L'Eglise Clinet. Crushed roses and violets set against dark cassis and blueberry fruit, just brilliant. Harvest from September 3 to 9. 85% new oak. Noemie Durantou and Olivier Gautrat.

Finesse and depth form a common thread that risks repeating itself in 2022—though repeating praise is hardly a risk in itself. Notes of blueberry, sweetness, density, and depth work brilliantly. Fine and suave, the wine follows a clear, powerful, elegant, considerate, and detailed trajectory. On the palate, Eglise Clinet does not seek compromise; its sole aim is to convince, carrying with it the positive energy it has been imbued with. A wine of rare power, of indescribable clarity, with all the magic it holds within. A touching, moving, powerful wine.

Dark, deep colour. An intense, fruity nose with lovely raspberry notes and a hint of truffle. Complex. A superb, airy attack on the palate. Then the wine melts into a rich, silky texture, driven by flavours of black fruit. Remarkably well-balanced, it develops slowly—precise and profound—towards a long, complex, sappy finish, where nuances of black fruit and spices reappear. All with great delicacy. Superb, and hard to spit out.