Eglise Clinet - Pomerol 2019

Jamessuckling.com

100

par James Suckling le 16/11/2022

This is amazingly perfumed with amazing aromas of fresh violets and pink roses. Blackberries and dark fruit. Black truffle and stone. It’s full-bodied with fantastic structure and tannins. Yet, it’s weightless and so beautiful. The length is ethereal and goes on for minutes. You taste it and it’s so wonderful that you want to drink it. One for the cellar. Better in 2028, but already a joy.

Alexandre Ma

100

par Alexandre Ma le 11/05/2022

There is definitely a “glamour soul” in this wine. Just one whiff and I am enrapt with my heart beating faster. Among the flavor of sweet and fresh blackberries and pure spices flows a mysterious violet mist (violet in extremely high concentration), like the purple dress of fairy leading me to a “secret garden”. Once it touches my tongue, the whole palate feels like soaked in fresh milk because it tastes so beautiful. Its delicate tannins, slender structure and limpid body absolutely win me over. It is hard to believe that a wine of this kind gets mature mostly in new oak barrels. Instead, I never find even a hint of oak when tasting it. Alas, the beauty of such a wine is so great that I wonder how many discerning palates will be “spoiled” during its long aging process. ???????“??”,????????????????????????????????????????????(????????),?????????????“????”????????????,????????????????????,??????,???????,??????,???????????????????????????????,??????????????????????,???????????,????????????,??“??”????????

Jamessuckling.com

100

par James Suckling le 05/05/2022

This is amazingly perfumed with amazing aromas of fresh violets and pink roses. Blackberries and dark fruit. Black truffle and stone. It’s full-bodied with fantastic structure and tannins. Yet, it’s weightless and so beautiful. The length is ethereal and goes on for minutes. You taste it and it’s so wonderful that you want to drink it. One for the cellar. Better in 2028, but already a joy.

Jeb DUNNUCK

97

par Jeb Dunnuck le 12/04/2022

The flagship 2019 Château L'Eglise Clinet is brilliant, unquestionably ranking with the top wines in the appellation. Giving up loads of ripe darker cherries, currants, tobacco, cedarwood, and spring flowers, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a plush, layered, opulent mouthfeel, impressive tannins, and a great finish. I love its mid-palate, and it's one of the bigger, richer, sexier wines in the vintage. I'd be thrilled with bottles in the cellar. It offers pleasure even today yet should hit maturity in 7-8 years and have a drinking window stretching over the following two to three decades.

Wine Advocate

98

par William Kelley le 07/04/2022

Unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage on the right bank, the late Denis Durantou's swan-song 2019 L'Eglise Clinet is showing very well indeed in bottle. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berry fruit mingled with notions of raw cocoa, violets, black truffle, orange rind, burning embers and loamy soil, it's full-bodied, layered and concentrated, its velvety attack segueing into a deep, multidimensional core that's framed by ripe, powdery tannins and lively balancing acids. Seamless but youthfully structured, this is a prodigious young Pomerol that will richly reward bottle age. 98+

Vinous

98

par Antonio Galloni le 28/02/2022

The 2019 L'Eglise-Clinet is a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous beauty. Finesse and power come together in a Pomerol that towers with dazzling intensity. Gravel, dried herbs, flowers, mocha and licorice soar out of the glass. In 2019 L'Eglise-Clinet is a vertical wine, a wine of stature, class and pedigree that will reward those lucky enough to own it with many years of very fine drinking. It's impossible to taste the 2019 and not think about the late Denis Durantou and what he achieved in his last vintage. Daughters Constance and Noémi Durantou seem to really understand the legacy they have been entrusted to honor and then build on themselves.

Vinous

98

par Antonio Galloni le 24/02/2022

The 2019 L'Eglise-Clinet is a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous beauty. Finesse and power come together in a Pomerol that towers with dazzling intensity. Gravel, dried herbs, flowers, mocha and licorice soar out of the glass. In 2019 L'Eglise-Clinet is a vertical wine, a wine of stature, class and pedigree that will reward those lucky enough to own it with many years of very fine drinking. It's impossible to taste the 2019 and not think about the late Denis Durantou and what he achieved in his last vintage. Daughters Constance and Noémi Durantou seem to really understand the legacy they have been entrusted to honor and then build on themselves.

Vinous

98

par Neal Martin le 17/02/2022

The 2019 l’Église-Clinet has a brilliantly defined bouquet with echoes of the equally showstopping Trotanoy that I tasted just a couple of hours before. Crystalline red fruit and hints of blood orange intermingle with crushed stone and truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with an immediately seductive, satin-like texture belying the backbone of this Pomerol. Lightly spiced and fanning out with intention on the finish, this will, as I wrote before, stand as the perfect testament to Denis Durantou as his daughters carry on his legacy.

Wine Advocate

98-100

par Lisa Perrotti-Brown le 15/07/2020

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 L'Eglise Clinet has a powerfully fragrant nose of violets, star anise, powdered cinnamon and jasmine over a core of plum preserves, blackberry pie, Black Forest cake and camphor with wafts of crushed rocks and iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is an exercise in poise and precision, possessing remarkably well-defined, bright, energetic black fruit and minerally layers, supported by beautifully ripe, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with a long-lingering, mesmerizing array of earth, rock and glittery fruit nuances. This is a wine that will stop you in your tracks and demand you to think, contemplate and reflect. And if all that isn’t enough, it is also fantastically delicious. The blend this year is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

WeinWisser

20

par Tjark Witzgall le 07/07/2020

Bettane & Desseauve

97

par Bettane & Desseauve le 03/07/2020

18,5

Vinous

97-99

par Antonio Galloni le 18/06/2020

The 2019 L'Eglise-Clinet, Denis Durantou's last vintage, is also very clearly one of the wines of the year. A Pomerol of soaring, majestic intensity L'Eglise-Clinet dazzles from start to finish. Layers of dark fruit, gravel, spice and dried flowers unfold over time. I followed this sample for several days and it never lost any intensity over that time. I find the 2019 incredibly elegant and polished, but then again, I also tasted it a few months later than normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Merlot was harvested from September 18 to 26, while the Franc came all in on the 26th. Readers who can find the 2019 should not hesitate, as it is a true masterpiece. Denis Durantou's 2019s are absolutely brilliant across the board. My tasting was obviously bittersweet, as Durantou lost his battle with illness just a few weeks prior. Denis Durantou was one of the most intriguing characters in Bordeaux. I can't say I knew him well, but I always enjoyed tasting with him, as he was a person that spoke more with his eyes than with words. Things were implied rather than overtly stated. So, I tasted the 2019s with daughters Constance and Noémie over Zoom, in typical 2020 fashion. The Durantou sisters describe 2019 as a year with an early flowering and homogenous ripening that led to small, concentrated berries and higher pHs than normal. Temperatures were kept cool in the cellar, where both alcoholic and malolactic fermentations took place over cuvaison of 21 days (for all wines), in a reductive environment with little oxygen. From top to bottom, the Durantou 2019s are positively stellar. Don't miss them!

Jamessuckling.com

99-100

par James Suckling le 18/06/2020

An exceptional Eglise-Clinet with density and richness, yet so racy and chewy. It harkens back to classic ECs, such as 1998 or 1989. Full-bodied with gorgeous, pure fruit. The tannins are so beautiful and intense. A wine with real soul. One of the greats.

Vinous

97-99

par Neal Martin le 16/06/2020

The 2019 L'Eglise-Clinet is destined to be remembered as Denis Durantou's last vintage before he passed away in May 2020. It is a fitting testament to the late winemaker. It is blessed with a bewitching bouquet laden with intense, vivid red berry fruit suffused with liquorice, black pepper and clove scents. Extremely complex. The palate is wonderfully proportioned with fine tannins that frame the layered black and red fruit, lightly spiced with hints of tobacco and cracked black pepper on the finish imparted by that seasoning of Cabernet Franc. Quintessential l'Eglise-Clinet, it will give half a century of drinking pleasure and the perfect way to remember and raise a toast to one of Pomerol's finest vignerons.

The Wine Cellar Insider

96-98

par Jeff Leve le 10/06/2020

Like walking into a rose garden, next you find dark cocoa, truffle, violets, licorice and plums on the nose. On the palate the wine is sensuous, opulent, silky and full-bodied. The length is just perfect, as it lets you linger over the layers of fruit, dusty cocoa and truffle nuances that accompany all those gorgeous, velvety plums and black cherries. The wine was made from blending 90% Merlot with 10% Cabernet Franc, reaching 14.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.75. The harvest took place September 18-26 for the Merlot, with the Cabernet Franc being picked September 26. 2019 the final vintage for Denis Durantou is a testament to his love for his vineyard and wine. It is exactly the type of wine he truly loved making. Owners of this beauty should toast him and his years of work at L'Eglise Clinet. I know I will. 96-98 Pts

Jean-Marc QUARIN

97

par Jean-Marc Quarin le 20/05/2020

18,5

The World of Fine Wines

95-97

par Michael Schuster le 13/05/2020

Richly black-cherry ripe—sumptuous promise! Ample, generous, fresh, beautifully fine in tannin, a splendid balance; full of rich, black-fruit flavor, subtly mineral-etched, gently mouthcoating, long and graceful across the palate, close-grained, refined, richly satisfying and with great fruit-cored length. Impeccable oak handling here—imperceptible, as it should be. A wine saturated with flavor, scent, sensation, all displayed with effortless harmony. Grand and poised and wonderful. Glorious Pomerol. A most fitting, memorable final tribute to you, Denis.