2020 Clos St Martin, St Emilion, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Tasted twice. Harvest September 14 and again on September 25, all grapes brought in over two days. Tasted twice. 3.58pH, just 1.1ha in production. A yield of 32hl/ha. 100% first wine.
Inky velvet colour, with a violet rim. Rich and deep and even, full of concentrated black fruits and cinnamon spice. This is deliciously balanced between rich fruit and salty saline crackers, has a tension that runs through the palate, as good as the 2018, which for me is the best of a recent vintage vertical that I did of this estate.
Drink 2027 - 2042
Jane Anson, Decanter.com (May 2021)
Tasted twice four months apart yet with consistent notes.
Since tasting from barrel, the 2020 Clos Saint-Martin has gained more composure on the nose with black cherries, cassis and fresh fig. This has achieved some breeding. The palate is medium-bodied with plush, ripe black fruit, a graphite element not in situ in barrel, tensile with a gradual build on the finish. This deserves a more generous score.
Drink 2027 - 2045
Neil Martin, Vinous.com (February 2023)
The 2020 Clos Saint-Martin is quite simply a different wine from what I tasted en primeur. Racy and yet super-finessed, the 2020 is a Saint-Émilion of exquisite beauty. Crushed red berry fruit, blood orange, mint, cinnamon and rose petal are all beautifully delineated. Medium in body yet deep, with mind-blowing balance, Clos Saint-Martin is a flat-out stunner.
Drink 2030 - 2050
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2023)
The 2020 Clos St. Martin is a rich, modern Saint-Émilion, offering up aromas of ripe blackberries, cherries, plum liqueur and creamy new oak, followed by a full-bodied, broad, muscular palate with a jammy core of baked fruit flavors and plenty of structuring oak tannins. Readers more tolerant of over-ripeness will appreciate it more than me.
Drink 2023 - 2035
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (April 2023)
Vinification intégrale.
Tasted blind. Deepest crimson. Unusual aroma of sweet fruit and citrus, a touch leafy. Firm, chewy tannins dominate the fruit so it is a bit dry at the end as the tannins build.
Drink 2027 - 2036
Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2024)
Mint chocolate, kelp, bark, and blackcurrants are on the nose. Touch of sandalwood and sweet spice. Chewy, firm tannins, with a full body and a compact and dense core of spicy black fruit. It is a little intense and extracted right now but with fantastic length and concentration. Give it time to come together.
Try in 2027
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (May 2023)
A touch of liqueur on the nose, smells heady with gorgeous purple floral touches. Ripe and firm, a touch severe in the flavours: blackcurrant, plum, prune, fig and lots of liquorice, giving it a savoury tang, though overall, it's vivid and vibrant. Forward and streamlined with touches of warm spice. Broad and muscular but with a clean finish of wet stone and slate minerality. Lots to like here, though you can feel the power of the 15% alcohol - it needs some time.
Drink 2025 - 2039
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (January 2023)
Always a powerful wine, the 2020 Clos Saint-Martin is no exception and sports a dense purple/plum color as well as a primordial bouquet of smoky black fruits, tobacco, scorched earth, graphite, and truffle. A powerhouse on the palate as well, this full-bodied, rich, incredibly concentrated Saint-Emilion has building yet perfectly ripe tannins, a gorgeous mid-palate, and just about flawless balance. It might be the finest wine I've tasted from this estate. Hide bottles for 5-7 years and enjoy over the following 30 years or more.
Drink 2028 - 2058
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2023)
About this WINE
Chateau Clos St Martin
St Émilion
St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank.
St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel.
Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol. Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.
In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices. The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.
St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012
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.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Always a powerful wine, the 2020 Clos Saint-Martin is no exception and sports a dense purple/plum color as well as a primordial bouquet of smoky black fruits, tobacco, scorched earth, graphite, and truffle. A powerhouse on the palate as well, this full-bodied, rich, incredibly concentrated Saint-Emilion has building yet perfectly ripe tannins, a gorgeous mid-palate, and just about flawless balance. It might be the finest wine I've tasted from this estate. Hide bottles for 5-7 years and enjoy over the following 30 years or more.
Drink 2028 - 2058
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2023)
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