This is incredibly powerful with fantastic depth and length. It goes on for minutes. Full-bodied yet so tight and intense. Blackberries and hints of spice. It has such energy and persistence. It is a wine that makes you really reflect. Bravo. Tiny production. Points: 99-100
Incredible purity of fruit here with blackberry, black olive, concrete, stone and violet in the nose. It’s full-bodied with a powerful palate of fruit that shows a wet-earth and black-truffle undertone. The tannins are intense and chewy, yet wonderfully polished and poised. Superb length in the finish. One built for long cellaring. Try after 2027.
98 POINTS
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Maintaining freshness in the wine was a priority for Denis Durantou at L’Eglise Clinet. “The pH developed quite quickly,” he said. “We had to test it every day; we had made a conscious decision to pick before it got too high. At a maximum of 3.7 pH, we pick. As soon as we have an evolution—a flavor change—we decide to pick.” Merlot was picked September 18-26 and Cabernet Franc on September 28. The resulting wine has a 3.63 pH and 14.5% alcohol and will be aged in 70% new barriques. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 L'Eglise Clinet is deep purple-black in color and opens with beguiling truffles, forest floor, mossy bark and black tea scents, slowly unfurling to reveal a core of Black Forest cake, plum preserves, licorice and candied violets plus wafts of tar and cast iron pan. Full-bodied, concentrated and jam-packed with muscular fruit, the velvety-textured palate delivers layer upon layer of savory and earthy accents, finishing with a lingering mineral lift.
98 POINTS
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 L'Eglise Clinet has a 3.63 pH and 14.5% alcohol. It was aged in 70% new barriques. Deep garnet-purple in color, it opens with a stunning fragrant-earth perfume, accented by notions of wild mushrooms, mossy tree bark and crushed rocks, giving way to a core of black raspberries, plum preserves and fresh blueberries, plus wafts of lavender and clove oil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate shimmers with energy, delivering slow-releasing black fruit and earthy layers, framed by very ripe, finely grained tannins and fantastic tension. It finishes with epic length and subtlety. It is already so evocative and beautifully expressed at this youthful stage that is tempting to broach straight away, but give it another 5-6 years to really fan its feathers, and drink it over the next 40 or more years.
Blue and black fruit with spices and licorice on the nose. Graphite, too. Full and dense, but compact on the palate, with a plush yet tight, velvety texture and a long, fantastic finish. Needs four to six year to start to open. Better after 2027.
98 POINTS
Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous
The 2018 L'Eglise-Clinet is insanely beautiful and vivid, not to mention one of the wines of the vintage on the Right Bank. Vertical and explosive in feel, the 2018 is rapturous from the very first taste. Inky dark red and purplish fruit, mocha, lavender, crushed rocks and rose petal are some of the many aromas and flavors that build through to the exceptionally long, vibrant finish. But L'Eglise-Clinet is so much more than that. It's a Pomerol of tremendous distinction and class. Give it a few years in bottle and then enjoy over the next several decades.
97 POINTS
Neal Martin - Vinous
The 2018 L’Eglise-Clinet was picked from 18 to 26 September for the Merlot, the Cabernet Franc picked on 28 September, matured in 70% new oak. It has a deep limpid purple colour. It has a captivating, gorgeous black cherry, raspberry and blueberry scented bouquet with touches of iodine and incense. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannin and pitch perfect acidity. There is a compelling symmetry and precision about this L’Eglise-Clinet with wonderful sapidity towards the finish that fans out with blackberry and boysenberry fruit. Simply a class act, and perhaps one of the most profound expressions of terroir that you will find on the Right Bank this year. Points: 97-98
97 POINTS
Jane Anson - Decanter
This is rich, with layers upon layers of black chocolate, ripe fleshy blackberries and raspberries tempered by acidity and tannins that support, pushing the entire palate slowly onwards and upwards. It has all the generosity of the vintage but tempered with Durantou's amazing ability to sculpt freshness out of the fruit his vineyards deliver. It’s immensely seductive and powerful with more evident flesh than the 2016 – a wine that’s going to run and run.
