Château Clinet

Famed Pomerol ‘plateau’ vineyard now available to aspiring winemakers

VINIV, the only company that lets wine enthusiasts work alongside elite Bordeaux winemakers to produce their own premium barrels using vineyards from the region’s most coveted appellations, has added Pomerol to its roster.

The section of 50-year-old Merlot vines, owned by Château CLINET, is located at the centre of Pomerol’s famous ‘Gunz gravel’ and clay terrace where many of the appellation’s most reputable properties are located. Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux’s most renowned appellations, making access to this fruit scarce and uncommon.

The partnership with Château CLINET helps VINIV move closer to its goal of providing its members with vineyard and varietal options from all of Bordeaux’s best appellations for their premium blends. Château CLINET’s Merlot vineyard is the 14th single-varietal parcel available to VINIV winemakers.

“We love VINIV’s innovative approach of putting sophisticated consumers at the centre of the winemaking experience”, says Ronan Laborde, CEO of Groupe CLINET.  “Providing a discreet amount of our best vines in Pomerol is an excellent way for Château CLINET to demonstrate what makes our terroir, landscape and winemaking practices so unique.”

This announcement follows VINIV’s recent additions of Cabernet Sauvignon vines located at Château Lynch-Bages in Pauillac, as well as Château Giscours and Château du Tertre in Margaux. VINIV’s other vineyards are ideally situated in Saint-Émilion, Saint-Estèphe, Graves and Canon-Fronsac.

According to Eric Boissenot, VINIV’s consulting oenologist and advisor to many of Bordeaux’s most prestigious classified growths, “Merlot from this sector of Pomerol produces velvety, dense, and complex wines.  It offers VINIV clients a beautiful complement or alternative to the tense and equally-sophisticated wines from the limestone soils of neighboring Saint-Émilion.”

Stephen Bolger, Founder and CEO of VINIV, adds: “Just the mention of Pomerol evokes scarcity and the best of Bordeaux wines. Working with Château CLINET is a privilege and the perfect response to our most frequent client request of recent years: Can I get access to Merlot from Pomerol for my blend?”

Listed as a 1st growth of Pomerol in 1893, Château Clinet’s history goes back to the 17th century.

The name CLINET can be read “Cliné” on the Belleyme map of 1785 where it appears among a cluster of wines around the ancienne église. The name could derive from the old French ‘cliner’, used during the 16th century. The word meant to ‘bow’ or ‘lean’ – possibly a reference to the slope, which runs down from the famous Plateau de Pomerol, providing natural drainage.

Since the 19th century, successive generations of families have taken over the ownership and management of Château CLINET, all committed to perfecting the quality of its production and stamping their own identity on this bijou estate. Today it is owned by the Laborde family who, since 1998, have set Clinet on a firm footing alongside the best of the Pomerol appellation.

The climate combined with deep clay subsoils, covered in gravel, make our Pomerol terroir the best location in the world to grow Merlot grapes, a dark blue-coloured variety with fine skin, natural freshness and a tendency for early ripening. Our vines, whose average age currently stands at a remarkable 40 years, sink their roots to depths of 2 to 3 metres, drawing on the unique natural resources of this region, which are fundamental to producing grapes of such exceptional quality.

At Château CLINET, respect for the environment is not a political issue. Quite simply, traditional cultivation methods have been yielding the best crops in Pomerol for many centuries and our team is committed to building a successful future shaped by our rich heritage. This is why an eco-friendly approach is given such a high priority when cultivating our vines, with preference being given to working the soil and natural grass covering rather than chemical treatment. It is essential to be able to anticipate, in a natural way, potential vine diseases in order to quickly remedy them in a preventative manner.

At Château CLINET, we believe passionately that careful, integrated farming of the soil by man (and horses) produces better results.

Our vinification process aims to maintain the freshness, finesse and character of Château CLINET wines. Harvesting is always carried out manually. Following meticulous selection, gravity guides the harvested grapes to the vats in line with the harvesting plan. On average, fermentation and maceration lasts for one month, before the wine is transferred into barrels. The ‘free run’ wines are separated from the ‘pressed’ wines, and then aged separately.

The layout of our cellars allows good traceability from the vineyard to the end of the ageing period. The production of a well-defined parcel can also be followed in each vat, then each barrel.