A gorgeous wine mirroring the superb vintage, both charming and powerful revealing opulence while maintaining what owner Mattheiu Cuvelier calls the 'ethereal finesse' of the limestone plateau. With fine chocolate, blackberry, black cherries, cool blue fruit and nougat, it displays a juicy, sweet texture, along with iodine freshness on the long finish with a hint of leafy earthiness, but still far more primary in focus.

Welcoming aromatics, fully melted tannins even on the opening beats coupled with fresh juicy plum fruits and a limestone bite. This is delicious, tobacco, baking spice, cinnamon, cumin, incense, rosebuds and blackberry fruits. High quality, and totally ready to sink right in. 80% new oak. Stephane Derenoncourt and Jean-Claude Berrouet consultants.

The 2009 Clos Fourtet has a generous and opulent bouquet with red cherries, kirsch, fig and light mocha aromas that gently unfold, retaining admirable definition and poise. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, good structure. A more masculine, serious finish exerts impressive control. This is a classy Saint-Émilion with plenty of ageing potential. - vinous.com, March 2019

The 2009 Clos Fourtet is medium to deep garnet colored and opens on a medicinal/Band-Aid note, giving way to appealing baked red and black fruit notes with touches of dried herbs, tree bark, chargrill and a ferrous waft. The palate is full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins and plenty of muscular fruit, finishing earthy and just a little hard.

Bright, deep ruby. Slightly porty yet fresh on the hugely ripe nose, offering scents of medicinal cherry, minerals, licorice and roasted meat. Plush, seamless and wonderfully deep, with sexy sweetness leavening by strong minerality. One of the fullest and most mouthfilling wines of this fleshy vintage. Not hugely complex--in fact a bit youthfully monolithic today--but wonderfully dense wine with fully ripe, sweet tannins and superb persistence.

Tons of black fruit, plenty of smoke and some balsamic character make a dramatic statement on the nose. On the palate there's rather sweet fruit at the front, then major tannins come through at the finish that still need time to fully resolve. Better after 2022. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019) - Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com, March 2019

Dark purple-ruby with inky highlights. Blackberry and cedar aromas pick up a pretty floral note with air. Rich, ripe and creamy, this very smooth wine offers black fruit, cedar and spicy oak flavors of moderate concentration and complexity. Well-made but doesn't quite come alive today. Finishes with red berry and floral nuances, a trace of alcoholic warmth and youthfully assertive tannins that will require plenty of patience.

[88/8CS4CF] Dense, mineral and roasted ripe nose; full, finely concentrated, fine tannin texture; rich and elegant, gentle, suave, refined; fresh and harmonious with a lovely plateau limestone purity; ripe, lightly roasted fruit, long, pure, graceful, transparent. Not a big wine, but complete and very much of its place; fresh, minerally, long and subtle. No excess warmth or extract, just complete and 'natural'. Most attractive, gently spicy plateau St Emilion. 2018-30

After tasting it three times from bottle, I am convinced this prodigious wine is one of the greatest young Bordeaux I have ever tasted. Inky blue/purple with notes of camphor, forest floor, blackberry, cassis, sweet cherries, licorice, the wine has stunning aromatics, unctuous texture and an almost inky concentration, but without any hard edges. With considerable tannin and just enough acidity to provide definition, this wine transcends even its premier grand cru classe terroir. It is certainly the finest Clos Fourtet ever produced. Give it 5-7 years of cellaring to allow some of its baby fat to fall away. There is certainly enough structure underneath to keep for 30-50 years. Bravo!

From my barrel score of 95-98, I suppose I should have seen this perfect score coming, particularly considering what proprietor Philippe Cuvelier and estate manager Tony Ballu have accomplished over the last decade. This is one of the great terroirs of St.-Emilion, nearly 50 acres high on the clay beds and deep limestone plateau of the region, just a stone's throw from the luxury hotel and restaurant Hostellerie de Plaisance. Yields were moderate at 34 hectoliters per hectare, and the final blend is 88% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon (somewhat unusual) and the rest Cabernet Franc, aged 18 months in 80% new oak.
-Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #199 March 2012

(95-98 pts)
This is a perennial superstar thanks to the efforts of proprietor Philippe Cuvelier and the estate's manager, Tony Ballu. This beautifully-situated, nearly 48-acre vineyard, high on the clay and deep limestone plateau just adjacent to the town walls of St.-Emilion, was harvested between September 28 and October 13, with yields of 34 hectoliters per hectare. The natural alcohol turned out to be 14%. A magical wine, it may have a hard time eclipsing the 2005, but it is another prodigious effort in its own right. The dense purple color offers up notes of white chocolate, blueberry, blackberry, crushed rock, and white flowers. Textured, full-bodied, enormously pure, and voluptuously textured, it is nearly too easy to drink because of the exquisite balance and seamless integration of all its component parts. This is a killer Clos Fourtet that should drink well young yet evolve for 20+ years. (Tasted five times.)

95pts - The 2009 Clos Fourtet is medium to deep garnet colored and opens on a medicinal/Band-Aid note, giving way to appealing baked red and black fruit notes with touches of dried herbs, tree bark, chargrill and a ferrous waft. The palate is full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins and plenty of muscular fruit, finishing earthy and just a little hard.Lisa Perrotti-Brown, March 2019