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2010 Château Clinet

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

May 26, 2024 - $135

Estimate

RATINGS

97James Suckling

Gorgeous nose with lots of dark fruit like plum and blueberries. Crushed pepper and chalk with wild strawberries and vanilla. Dense and velvety on the palate with superbly polished tannins and great depth.

96Jeb Dunnuck

...aromas of blackcurrants, black cherries, damp earth and forest floor, with its background oak buffered by serious amounts of fruit. Full-bodied, concentrated and deep, yet also elegant and layered, with the freshness, purity, and structure of the vintage...

95The Wine Advocate

...notes of Black Forest cake, blueberry compote and plum preserves plus hints of cigar box, cardamom and cloves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate reveals pleasant poise with loads of savory sparks on the finish.

95Wine Spectator

...notes of warm linzer torte, plum preserves and blackberry reduction, all supported by a broad, charcoal- and ganache-coated structure and deeply embedded acidity. Very muscular on the back end...

95Vinous / IWC

...very pure and seductive bouquet with layers of black plum, wild strawberry, hints of black truffle and morels...fresh and focused with plenty of energy...medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, silky smooth in texture with a poised, soy-tinged finish that fans out wonderfully.

93Stephen Tanzer

Brooding, superripe aromas of blackberry, plum and coffee. Seriously concentrated and dense, but with juicy acidity giving energy and definition to the thick flavors of dark plum, flowers and potpourri spices.

16Jancis Robinson

PRODUCER

Château Clinet

Château Clinet is a 22-acre estate in the Pomerol appellation of Bordeaux. It is an unclassified wine because there is no classification in Pomerol, the smallest and one of the most prestigious of the region’s wine districts. Clinet is owned by Jean-Louis Laborde and produces 28,000 bottles annually. The vineyards are planted to 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Fleur de Clinet is the estate’s second wine. Robert M. Parker Jr. has noted that the estate has “a magnificent terroir at the summit of the plateau of Pomerol” and that Clinet “continues to produce one of the finest Pomerols.”

REGION

France, Bordeaux, Pomerol

Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux’s red wine producing regions, with only about 2,000 acres of vineyards. Located on the east side of the Dordogne River, it is one of the so-called “right bank” appellations and therefore planted primarily to Merlot. Pomerol is unique in Bordeaux in that it is the only district never to have been rated in a classification system. Some historians think Pomerol’s location on the right bank made it unattractive to Bordeaux-based wine traders, who had plenty of wine from Medoc and Graves to export to England and northern Europe. Since ranking estates was essentially a marketing ploy to help brokers sell wine, ranking an area where they did little business held no interest for them. Pomerol didn’t get much attention from the international wine community until the 1960s, when Jean-Pierre Moueix, an entrepreneurial wine merchant, started buying some of Pomerol’s best estates and exporting the wines. Today the influential Moueix family owns Pomerol’s most famous estate, Château Pétrus, along with numerous other Pomerol estates. Pomerol wines, primarily Merlot blended with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, are considered softer and less tannic than left bank Bordeaux.