1998 Château Clinet, Pomerol, Bordeaux

1998 Château Clinet, Pomerol, Bordeaux

Product: 19988010595
 
1998 Château Clinet, Pomerol, Bordeaux

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Description

I had high hopes for this wine before bottling, but Clinet often goes through a reduced, awkward stage following bottling. The 1998 reveals a dense, thick-looking purple colour and a closed bouquet. With coaxing, notes of damp earth, spicy new oak, truffles, blackberry, and plum fruit emerge. 

Dense, with jagged tannin, considerable power, and a roasted, chocolatey character, this wine has not yet meshed together. I had hoped it would be less disjointed, but it is likely to deserve an outstanding score. However, patience will be required.

Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (April 2001)

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate90/100

I had high hopes for this wine before bottling, but Clinet often goes through a reduced, awkward stage following bottling. The 1998 reveals a dense, thick-looking purple colour and a closed bouquet. With coaxing, notes of damp earth, spicy new oak, truffles, blackberry, and plum fruit emerge. 

Dense, with jagged tannin, considerable power, and a roasted, chocolatey character, this wine has not yet meshed together. I had hoped it would be less disjointed, but it is likely to deserve an outstanding score. However, patience will be required.

Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (April 2001)

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Jancis Robinson MW18.5/20

In bottle. Dark crimson. Much much fresher on the nose than the magnum opened earlier. Direct and rich with real energy. Still with lots of tannins and a mix of ripe fruit and char. Great length and vitality. Chocolate and raciness. Still lots of potential. Still energetic tannins at the end. Fireworks!

Drink 2016 - 2030

Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com (May 2015)

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About this WINE

Château Clinet

Château Clinet

Château Clinet is a wine estate in Pomerol on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. It is owned and run by Ronan Laborde and his partner, Monique Bailly. Ronan took the helm here in 2004.

The estate’s 11 hectares of vines sit atop the famed Pomerol plateau. The vineyard is planted to a majority of Merlot (75%), which Ronan feels is highly suited to the plateau’s iron-rich clay soils. There is also 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. Though rare in Pomerol, Cabernet Sauvignon has long been an important aspect of Clinet’s character; it once made up 50% of the vineyard here, Ronan reports.

Clinet came to the attention of many collectors when its 1989 vintage received a 100-point score from the critic Robert Parker; it has remained one of Bordeaux’s most sought-after names ever since. Another perfect Parker score followed for the 2009 vintage.

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Pomerol

Pomerol

Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux's major appellations, with about 150 producers and approximately 740 hectares of vineyards. It is home to many bijou domaines, many of which produce little more than 1,000 cases per annum.

Both the topography and architecture of the region is unremarkable, but the style of the wines is most individual. The finest vineyards are planted on a seam of rich clay which extends across the gently-elevated plateau of Pomerol, which runs from the north-eastern boundary of St Emilion. On the sides of the plateau, the soil becomes sandier and the wines lighter.

For a long time Pomerol was regarded as the poor relation of St Emilion, but the efforts of Jean-Pierre Moueix in the mid-20th century brought the wine to the attention of more export markets, where its fleshy, intense and muscular style found a willing audience, in turn leading to surge in prices led by the demand for such limited quantities.

There is one satellite region to the immediate north, Lalande-de-Pomerol whose wines are stylistically very similar, if sometimes lacking the finesse of its neighbour. There has never been a classification of Pomerol wines.

Recommended Châteaux : Ch. Pétrus, Vieux Ch. Certan, Le Pin, Ch. L’Eglise-Clinet, Ch. La Conseillante, Ch. L’Evangile, Ch. Lafleur, Trotanoy, Ch. Nenin, Ch. Beauregard, Ch. Feytit-Clinet, Le Gay.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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