2023 Château l'Eglise-Clinet, Pomerol, Bordeaux

90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.

Aromatically explosive with a burgundy-like notion of berry fruit. Mouth-filling fruit on the palate to match and enfold the abundance of firm tannin behind. Clearly built to age.

Drink 2032 - 2050

The 2023 L'Eglise Clinet unwinds in the glass with brooding aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with baking chocolate, pipe tobacco and toasty new oak. Full-bodied, layered and muscular, with a sweet core of fruit framed by rich, powdery, generously extracted tannin, it's broad-shouldered and powerful, concluding with a long, expansive finish. It's a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that checks in at 14.6% alcohol.

The 2023 L’Eglise-Clinet is fabulous. Rich, deep and vertical in structure, this is all poise. Nothing in particular stands out, as all the elements are impeccably balanced. Time in the glass helps this open a bit, but the 2023 is a wine of reserve—a wine that is not showing all its cards. Gravel, incense, tobacco, dried herbs and mocha open with some coaxing. This will be stellar in time.

Drink 2030 - 2053

The Grand Vin 2023 Château L'Eglise Clinet checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that's resting in 82% new barrels. It brings another level of density as well as purity, with fabulous notes of cassis, ripe black cherries, chocolate, smoked tobacco, iron, and spice, as well as a kiss of background graphite. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, yet very much in the vibrant, fresh, classic style of the vintage, it has ripe tannins and a gorgeous finish. It shines on all accounts, offering beautiful purity and complexity and plenty of richness, and it should have a broad, lengthy drink window.

The purity and precision of this young Eglise Clinet is exceptional, with finesse, intensity and fine tannins that last for minutes on the palate. It grows slowly and then builds and continues. The energy is terrific. Finishes long and confident. All about structure with finesse. The tannins really are refined and tightly woven. 90% merlot and 10% cabernet franc.

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, L’Eglise-Clinet 2023 has a pH of 3.7. It is deep garnet-purple in color and opens with an initial burst of gregarious fruit, with blueberry preserves and ripe, juicy plums giving way to perfumed waves of lilacs, cinnamon stick, star anise, crushed rocks, and forest floor. The medium to full-bodied palate is tightly coiled at this stage with the taut, intense black and blue fruit core intertwined with minerals and exotic spices, supported by firm, rounded tannins and compelling tension, finishing very long and fragrant. A head-turner!

Drink 2030 - 2060

Crafted from deep rooted vines in both clay with clayey gravel, this estate succeeds like no other in expressing power from this appellation but without any hard or drying tannins, which one can encounter in 2023 from other estates. Cool and confident menthol, bright tangy red berry and blueberry fruit aromas introduce an almost Pauillac like palate whose tannic grip is happily balanced by blood red orange like freshness. Aging in 82% new oak, this wine was made from grapes picked before the September rains: the tannins show no rawness, but rather pristine ripeness. I love the linear focus enveloped with subtle succulence, ending with a long finish. Give it the full opportunity to improve in your cellar, not before 2033, when it will reward your patience fully.

Drink 2033 - 2060

Rises through the palate, intense and concentrated with cloves, pomegranate, black pepper, cumin, rosemary, rich black fruits balanced and given lift and contrast by nuanced and fresher raspberry leaf, tomato leaf, saline squid ink, and fresh citrus peel acidities. This has cohesion, precision, lift and character. Noëmie Durantou winemaker. Harvest September 1 to 18. 42hl/h yield.

Drink 2030 - 2048

The 2023 L'Eglise-Clinet was picked between September 10 and 14 and matured in 82% new oak. It has a stunning bouquet with enthralling delineation and focus, very intense with blackberries, raspberry, crushed stone, Earl Grey and a touch of blood orange. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins and a dash of cracked black pepper. It's very harmonious and fans out brilliantly on the finish. It is surely going to vie with the stupendous 2022, and this ranks as one of the best wines of the vintage. Tasted on two visits at the beginning and end of my Bordeaux tastings.

Drink 2032 - 2060