A clear candidate for wine of the vintage, this show stopping gem kicks off with a vivid perfume packed with flowers, plums, truffles, chocolate, smoke, cigar wrapper, and cherry liqueur scents. The wine delivers intensity, finesse, concentration, richness, purity and complexity. The finish, with its layers of dark chocolate covered ripe plums, velvety textures, and sensuality is completely seamless, holding your palate hostage for at least 60 seconds. Give it some time and this could easily hit 100 Pts down the road, it is that good. Drink from 2027-2060. Tasted March 2023

Wonderfully bright, floral aromas with so much violet character. Such purity and focus. Ethereal on the nose already. Full-bodied, but very polished and deep with finesse and beauty. Incredible structure that fills the mouth.

The 2020 L'Eglise-Clinet takes time to open up in the glass, so I afford it 15-20 minutes to aerate. It's definitely worth a bit of patience. It delivers exquisite, ineffably pure aromas of black fruit, pressed violet, hints of marmalade and truffle. Amazing focus and precision. The palate is medium-bodied with finely-chiseled tannins, crisp and taut, just a very slight creaminess in terms of texture towards the second half with a long, peppery tail on the aftertaste. This is a quite fabulous Pomerol that will give 20+ years of drinking pleasure. Noemie Durantou feels this has more depth than the 2019 and she may well be right…

The 2020 L'Eglise-Clinet is a wine of pure and total sophistication. Dark and racy, with remarkable depth, the 2020 is so exceptionally polished. The 2020 is not a huge Eglise-Clinet, but rather a wine that speaks in a soft, gentle voice. I love its elegance and refinement. All the 2020 needs is time in bottle to be fully expressive, as it is quite embryonic today. Look for this to be a brilliant Pomerol in another handful of years.

There's a clear jump from the second wine to the 2020 Château L'Eglise Clinet, a riveting Pomerol that checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that spent 18 months in 80% new French oak. Offering a restrained, yet concentrated, structured style, it reveals classic notes of red and black currants, leafy tobacco, loamy earth, and chocolate. This carries to a full-bodied, powerful, tannic 2020 that needs a solid 7-8 years of bottle age. It's going to be long-lived but is not for those seeking instant gratification.

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2020 L'Eglise Clinet wafts from the glass with aromas of dark berries, mulberries, cherries and cassis mingled with notions of espresso roast, loamy soil, violets and truffle framed by creamy new oak. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's a rich, youthfully firm, muscularly constructed young Pomerol that will richly reward bottle age. WK April 2023

Tasted by Jane Anson(at Primeur week tastings in Bordeaux, 01 May 2021)

Noémie Durantou has taken over from her late father Denis with this vintage, and has produced a L'Eglise Clinet that is dark ruby in colour, and needs time in the glass as it is built and muscular. You need a little patience for the cassis, bilberry and raspberry fruits to arrange, enjoy instead the silky, velvety texture that stops the tannins being too restrictive and allows the palate to slowly expand. Not as expressive as in some vintages, but still exudes quiet confidence. A yield of 42hl/ha. Harvest from September 8.

Drinking Window 2029 - 2050

(90% M, 10% CF; 14.4% ABV; 80% new)
Dense, fine, and scented to smell, freshly black-fruit ripe, subtle and persistent; rich, fairly full, fresh to lively, very finely tannic, a lovely restrained yet ample balance; deep, subtly oakily sweet, a dark ripe fruit, creamy and fresh at once, very long across the palate, very long to finish; aromatic and complex, effortlessly graceful, refined and complete. There is more structure here than in the Petite Eglise, less immediate charm, but there is a superb fruit core and wonderful scope. A beautiful expression of the terroir and of the year. 2032–50+.

90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.
Dense and profound, the fruit savoury and pure. Profuse on attack, the fruit bursting on the palate with layered, fine-grain tannins in support. Purity and precision, the detail spot-on, the tannins of the finest weave. Great potential. (JL)90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.
Dense and profound, the fruit savoury and pure. Profuse on attack, the fruit bursting on the palate with layered, fine-grain tannins in support. Purity and precision, the detail spot-on, the tannins of the finest weave. Great potential. (JL)