2024 Chateau L'Eglise-Clinet, Pomerol

Really impressive concentration for the vintage with dusty tannins that give density and intensity. Medium-bodied, this shows dark fruit and chocolate plus walnut and hazelnut undertones. Juicy and flavorful but always in reserve. Winemaker Noemie Durantou Reilhac likens it to the 2015 but with finesse. 90% merlot and the rest cabernet franc.

Elegant, slow unrolling of black fruit flavours, beautiful precision, get a lot of fennel here, even a touch of marzipan, coffee grounds, savoury and juicy, black fruits, cassis and blueberry, violets, powdery rose petals. This is just exceptional within the vintage, such a deeply felt and deeply chiselled wine, and I can unhesitatingly recommend. No chaptilisation, 3.59ph, 85% new oak. Harvest September 21 to 28, 45hl/h yield, Noëmie Durantou winemaker and co-owner. Clearly will age with elegance and finesse. Red wine of the vintage for me.

The 2024 L'Eglise-Clinet is brilliant and intensely aromatic in its first impression. Vibrant red-toned fruit, blood orange, cinnamon, cedar and rose petal soar from the glass. Readers will find a vertical, explosive L'Eglise-Clinet that impresses with its poise and balance. The 2024 deftly marries finesse and power to a degree I have seldom seen here in the past. Superb.

The 2024 L'Eglise-Clinet was picked on September 21, 23 and 24 apropos the Merlot and September 23, 24 and 28 for the Cabernet Franc, which constitutes 10% of the blend. It matured in 85% new oak (90% Darnajou and 10% Taransaud). This takes time to unfurl generous black cherry, mint and cassis aromas that blossom in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with chiseled tannins that frame the mineral-driven black fruit. It's not the most powerful L'Eglise-Clinet I have ever tasted at this stage, but you have to admire the manner in which this just builds toward the finish whilst retaining poise and tension. The 2024 is a wonderful Pomerol that will age effortlessly in bottle.

Based on 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, and aging in 80% new barrels, the 2024 Château L'Eglise Clinet is one of the deeper-hued Pomerols in the vintage. It offers rocking aromatics of dark berries, black cherries, graphite, scorched earth, and violets. Medium-bodied on the palate, it brings serious richness, with ripe, round, layered tannins and a great, mineral-laced finish. This is one of the denser, more concentrated wines in the vintage, yet it stays balanced and precise.

The 2024 L'Eglise Clinet reveals a dark, brooding, gently reductive bouquet of incense, dark berries, smoke and oak mingled with floral accents of iris. Medium-bodied, layered and firm, it's built around tangy acids, with a lively mid-palate framed by powdery tannins that assert themselves on the spicy, youthfully chewy finish. This blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc will mature in 85% new oak.

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

Rich and complex with the impression of old-vine concentration. Plentiful, fine tannins cushioned by the fruit. Long and persistent. Beguiling and with good potential. (JL)

13.8% Drink 2032 – 2050