Drink 2011-2030
-Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide No 7

The 2005 Clos l’Eglise gives the brilliant 2001, 2000, and1998 a run for their money. Time will tell if it eventually eclipses those three sensational efforts. A huge, sweet nose of creme brulee intermixed with black cherry liqueur, blackberries, tar, caramel, and mocha/coffee soars from the glass of this blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Opulence, superb intensity, abundant quantities of sweet toasty oak, a full-bodied richness, and excellent purity as well as depth suggest it will age effortlessly for over two decades. This is a brilliant Pomerol from proprietor Helene Garcin and her consulting winemaker, Dr. Alain Raynaud.

Dark red; still relatively closed to smell, but fresh and ripe; full, elegant, fresh and finely but very firmly tannic; deep and sweet in flavour, long, savoury, complex, with great sweet, spicy length. A lovely richness beneath a rugged structure. Will the fruit outlast the tannin? Splendid if you don’t mind the sinew.