The 2025 Clinet was the earliest picking ever, from September 4, and aged in 60% new oak plus 40% one-year-old barrels. Vintages now have a little more Cabernet Sauvignon, as a hectare of Merlot was uprooted. Now this has a delightful nose, perhaps the most elegant and refined that I have encountered at this stage: vivid red cherry, raspberry and wild strawberry scents, neatly embroidered oak, more floral in style. The palate is medium-bodied with chiselled, fine tannins, bright and tensile, exquisite focus, with a peacock's tail on the finish. Quite crystalline on the finish, this is a Clinet that I would like in my cellar. Or at the dinner table. Or in my glass.

Dense purple-hued, the 2025 Château Clinet is a ripe, sumptuous, and seamless beauty with so much to love. Ripe red, blue, and black fruits, violets, smoky tobacco, and chocolate all shine on the nose, and it's full-bodied on the palate, with a pure, layered, graceful mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It shows just how successful the more clay-dominant soils of Pomerol were in this vintage, and it's unquestionably up with the crème de la crème of the vintage.

Deep in color, the wine exudes aromas of licorice, flowers, black cherries, espresso, plums, herbs, and chocolate with a single swirl. The palate is even better, with waves of opulent, lush, soft, polished, expressive, and fresh fruit. The balance among depth, sweetness, flesh, and lift is exactly where it needs to be. The finish is defined by the intensity of the vibrant fruit on the palate, depth of flavor, and purity. The wine blends 80% Merlot with 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14% ABV, 3.65 pH. Harvesting took place September 4 September 17. This is the earliest harvest in the history of the estate. Yields were 34 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2029-2060

The 2025 Clinet is a dark, brooding wine, largely because of the significant presence of Cabernet Sauvignon—a rarity in Pomerol, but a tradition here dating back to vines that were planted in the 1930s and 1950s. Plum, blackberry, gravel, incense, licorice and scorched earth stain the palate. Harvest started on September 4, the earliest ever. Yields were 34 hectoliters per hectare. Lots saw about 30 days on the skins, on the longer side for the château. Malolactic fermentation was done in barrel. Élevage is 60% new oak and 40% once-filled new oak.

Less marked by oak than in recent vintages, the 2025 Clinet reveals a refined bouquet of cedar, dark berries, spice and fresh licorice. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and layered, it’s broad-shouldered yet more tensile than usual, built around a structured core of fruit and concluding with a long, perfumed finish. Reflecting the vintage in its balance between density and approachability, it remains true to the estate’s style, with a firm, robust frame. It will benefit from some years in bottle to fully harmonize. This is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Some tobacco, cedar and dark chocolate elements on the nose. There’s a sweetness from the oak with clean, ripe fruit behind so it’s a little cloying and highly charged right now with plenty of toasted elements – vanilla, chocolate – that just detract from the overall enjoyment at this point. Still, there’s good direction and persistence from start to finish. This will resolve beautifully after ageing with a silkiness to the fruit.

Concentrated and intense, dried figs, high spice, freshly cut herbs, incense, cardamon, dried rose petal, pot pourri, this has fragrance that builds thorugh the palate, plenty of tannic grip that just flirts with being dry. A concentrated Clinet with impact. 30 hl/ha. Tasted twice. Ronan Laborde owner.