Appellations

Clinet 2021

Pomerol

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Tasting Notes

Skilfully done, well put together, plenty of black chocolate, smoked pepper and truffle, coming in waves alongside cassis fruits and enticing floral aromatics. This feels sculpted and extremely attactive, but does not entirely escape the vintage, unusually austere for Clinet - give it another four or five years in bottle to really soften. Tasted twice.

Score: 94 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2026-2041 Date: 21 February 2024

Firm, lightly chewy yet creamy tannins. Savory bark and herb notes. Cloves and licorice, too. Medium body with a polished, lengthy and firm finish. Compact.

Score: 93 - 94 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Date: 01 May 2022

The 2021 Clinet is gorgeous. Soaring Cabernet Sauvignon aromatics lend presence to a deep, beautifully layered Pomerol that gets better and better with time in the glass. I especially admire the vibrancy here. At 25%, the Cabernet Sauvignon is high for Clinet, but it's an approach that works quite well in 2021. This is a fine vintage for Clinet.

Score: 92 - 94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2031-2046 Date: 01 May 2022

The 2021 Clinet is a blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, picked September 27–30 and October 12, respectively, and aged in 80% new oak. It has a well-defined bouquet of blackberry, graphite and light tobacco scents, very Left Bank in style – unsurprisingly, given the contribution of the Cabernet. Medium-bodied and sappy on the midpalate, with pliant tannins and moderate depth, and a lovely touch of black pepper toward the finish. Not a powerful Clinet and certainly far from the style of 15–20 years ago, but there’s a linearity and understatedness about this Pomerol, a freshness that should guarantee it will repay 5–6 years in bottle. This is a very well-crafted Clinet even if I do not rank it as a classic. If it puts on more weight, it may well land at the top of my banded score.

Score: 92 - 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2028-2050 Date: 01 May 2022

At 75% Merlot and fully 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2021 Clinet contains the highest proportion of Cabernet in the blend (excepting the 2003) since at least the 1980s. Ronan Laborde harvested late, picking into mid-October, to craft a medium to full-bodied, deep and impressively seamless wine evocative of dark berries, baking chocolate, violets and spices. Concentrated and nicely integrated, it is one of the vintage's notable successes.

Score: 93 - 95 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Date: 29 April 2022

Coming from a mix of clay and gravelly soils spread across a 10-hectare vineyard and 40-year-old vines, the 2021 Château Clinet is another brilliant success by Ronan Laborde, who continues to make one of the greatest Pomerols out there. A blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon (which is a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon for Pomerol), it sports a deep purple hue to go with brilliant notes of blueberries, blackberries, violets, and minty herbs. More medium to full-bodied on the palate, it shows the fresher, elegant style of the vintage yet still brings plenty of mid-palate depth, ripe, velvety tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish. It's a stunning success in the vintage that will drink nicely on release yet evolve for 20 years or more.

Score: 93 - 96 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Date: 06 February 2022