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Wine Description
The Story
Since 1983, Denis Durantou has been at the helm of this historic estate. He has quietly performed something of a revolution, introducing a host of innovations and bringing his wine-making philosophy to one of the greatest terroirs in Bordeaux. The 4.5 hectares used for the grand vin are situated next to the church in Pomerol on gravel and clay soils. A further 1.5 hectares of on sandy soils account for the excellent Petite Eglise.
Denis’ wines receive many accolades, all richly deserved. The grand vin is consistently amongst the best wines of the vintage; they are typically perfumed, nuanced and posses the structure to age gracefully for many decades.
Wine Information
Château L'Église Clinet
In 1882, Mr Mauléon-Rouchut, great great grandfather of Denis Durantou, brought together different plots of Clos L'Église and Domaine de Clinet. which his family had acquied in the 18th century, to make up a vineyard around the church of Saint John of Pomerol. In 1989 Durantou took over L'Église Clinet.
L’Eglise Clinet’s continuing success may well be the result of great Pomerol terroir, painstaking vine-growing and perfectionist wine-making, but grower Denis Durantou insists that the bottling can be the making or the breaking of a great wine.
"Choosing the right time to harvest and the right time to bottle are the two trickiest decisions in the winemaker’s calendar. If you get these two wrong, there is no going back; you can’t stick the grapes back on the vines and you can’t uncork all the bottles." says Durantou.
"At L’Eglise Clinet, the wine is aged in barrel with very little contact with oxygen. There are of course rackings, but we keep a high level of free sulphur throughout the whole of the ageing process to be sure there is no aromatic deviation. We don’t want to take any risks with yeasts and bacteria, and we believe that it is very important to preserve the reduction potential in great wines. But we also have to take care to explain to consumers that on opening a bottle, the wine may not be showing at its best during the first minutes; it needs a little time to breathe and come out."
Soil: clay and gravel
Production area: 5.4 ha
Grape varieties: Merlot 85%, Cabernet Franc 15%
Average age of vines: 40 years
Harvest method:
Winemaking:
Ageing: 18 months in oak barrels, new depending on the vintage
Château L'Église Clinet
33500Pomerol
France
Tel. + 33 (0)5 5725 9659
Fax + 33 (0)5 5725 2196
www.eglise-clinet.com
Vintage 1962
Bordeaux Vintage Report by Tb / Si 1962 fut aussi une année fabuleuse, elle tomba irrémédiablement dans l’ombre de 1961. L’hiver froid, avec ses gelées mordantes, a permis aux vignes d’obtenir un repos bien mérité après leur dur labeur en 1961. La saison de croissance a commencé avec trois semaines de retard. Lorsque les vignes ont finalement germé à la mi-juin, le temps s’est amélioré. Vers l’automne, le temps s’est réchauffé de façon mesurable, la sécheresse qui en a résulté ayant finalement eu un impact négatif sur les vignes. Les quelques récoltes abondantes de septembre sont arrivées juste à temps pour sauver les raisins du flétrissement de la vigne. La récolte, qui a donné lieu à la plus grande récolte des années 1950 et 1960, n’a commencé que le 1er octobre. Peu de gens croyaient que le millésime serait aussi bon qu’il l’est devenu. Un excellent millésime pour les blancs secs, les rouges et les Sauternes. En ce qui concerne Sauternes, l’année 1962 est nettement meilleure que celle de 1961. Les meilleurs rouges étaient les Cheval Blanc, Pétrus et Mouton-Rothschild. Une caractéristique commune des meilleurs vins de 1962 aujourd’hui est leur aspect serein et équilibré. Seuls quelques-uns montrent un corps et une complexité réels, mais ils fonctionnent bien surtout comme vins de dîner, également en raison de leur excellente disponibilité et de leur prix abordable. Même les meilleurs vins ne doivent pas être décantés pendant plus d’une heure.
