If you like truffle, you're going to dig this wine. From there, you discover campfire, licorice black cherry, plum, jam and underbrush. On the palate is where the real action takes place. With the perfect balance between density and lift, everything comes together in the decadently textured, silky textured, fruit filled finish. Tasted May 2018

An immaculate wine with pristine blackberries and dark plums as well as fresh, earthy nuances and dark crushed violets. An upright palate with lightly peppery dark berries and plums. The inflection of cabernet here makes for an impressively powerful wine that still exudes Pomerol’s suave, seductive charm. Chalky, seamless tannins. Super fresh. Try from 2022.

The 2015 Château Clinet from this terrific estate is up there with some of the finest vintages out there. A blend of 90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it has a concentrated, powerful style not far from the 2005 and offers loads of spiced blackberries and cassis fruits intermixed with notions of lead pencil, tobacco, and a distinct gravelly minerality. Rich, powerful and admirably endowed on the palate, with serious tannins, it's best forgotten for 4-6 years and should keep for two decades or more. Feb 2019

An elegant, powerful and accomplished wine in 2015, with finely-knitted tannins and dark fruit which is pushed impercetibly upwards from start to finish by the grippy acidity. All the strands are held together, seemingly almost too measured until it has spent a few moments in the glass. Then, the flavours come alive and you have something really special, and long-lasting. Drinking Window 2023 - 2040
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Château Belgrave, 09 Dec 2017)
Part of How Pomerol 2015 wines taste in the bottle

A blend of 90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 1% Cabernet Franc matured in 65% new and 35% one-year-old French oak for 16 months, the 2015 Clinet offers a medium to deep garnet-purple color and slowly, provocatively unfurls in the glass with notes of crushed black cherries, warm black raspberries and red cherry compote plus nuances of bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, fenugreek and forest floor and wafts of potpourri and mocha. The palate reveals a sensuous medium-bodied style offset beautifully by very firm, very silky tannins and packed with energetic, multifaceted fruit as well as great tension, finishing long with an arresting spice and floral perfume. A real stunner!

A dramatic, sweeping Pomerol, the 2015 Clinet is ample, racy and voluptuous from the very first taste. Those qualities are going to make the 2015 nearly impossible to resist young. Readers who can wait will be rewarded with a racy, deeply layered Pomerol of the highest level. For now, the raciness of the dark red cherry and plum fruit suggests a very bright future. Hints of rose petal, mint and licorice add the closing shades of nuance. What a gorgeous wine this is. vinous.com, February 2018

A highly successful Clinet, with ripe fruit, delivered with a swagger and a generosity and this is a great example of the vintage. Crayon, raspberry, sweet cherry, sandalwood, cocoa bean, black tea, fennel. 65% new oak. 37hl/h yield. Ronan Laborde owner.

The 2015 Clinet is just a brilliant wine from Ronan Laborde and his team. It has a refined bouquet that is extremely well defined, blackberry, briary, crushed stone and hints of black truffle developing with time. It just shouts "Pomerol!" at the top of its voice. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin. There is a taut and crisp acidity that lends this Clinet a beguiling sense of symmetry and poise. This is a classy, mineral-driven Pomerol that has enormous potential. Anticipated maturity: 2022 - 2045. - erobertparker.com, Feb 2018

There is a beautiful red fruit profile on the nose here which is so lifted and elegant. Very fine. The palate is a touch muted with a slight herbaceous edge, giving a lovely old-school slant and a savoury character. Very refined and textured, lovely balance and a glorious bitterness on the finish which lingers. Very, very good.

Located on the precious Pomerol 'plateau', Clinet has come on leaps and bounds under the dynamic Ronan Laborde. Pure, clean, ripe and bright nose, very clear red and black fruit. Very supple, sweetly fruited, fleshy but fresh. Lovely tannin profile with great density and purity. (90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc.)

Juicy and very fresh, with a lovely beam of raspberry and cherry compote notes infused with red licorice and floral hints. Certainly ripe, but on the refined side, with the purity of fruit singing over a light tug of apple wood through the lengthy finish. This has dropped a darker, more hedonistic edge since the barrel tasting. Best from 2020 through 2032. JM

Mid to deep crimson. Dark and fragrant on the nose. Smells quite Cabernet-Sauvignon-like with cassis and cedar underneath the oak. Dry, a little chalky but still succulent on the finish. Lovely harmony of fruit, freshness and fine tannins. (JH)

Tasted blind. Rather weak ruby. Light soapy nose. Rather drying, grainy, short finish. (JR)