Château Clinet 2023

The 2023 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 92/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Mildew cost a good share of the harvest; what was brought in is early, fresh and promising.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pomerol. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

« Château Clinet 2023 is deeply coloured, with hints of bright ruby. Complex and fine on the nose, aromas of dark fruit, cherry and raspberry mingle with lavender and mint. The palate reveals a densely textured wine, exuding ripe fruit flavours of black cherry, plum and wild strawberry, sprinkled with cinnamon. A finish of pure pleasure, vibrant and intense. »

Ronan LABORDE, owner & CEO

The vintage

A mild winter with normal rainfall. A frosty start to spring with temperatures falling below 0°C during the nights of 4th and 5th April, of no consequence given the growth stage of the vines. Mild temperatures, together with some rainfall, encouraged the rapid growth of the vine during the spring, leading to flowering that took place at an advanced stage over a period of just one week (between 21st and 28th May). The large number of primordial clusters combined with these weather conditions confirmed the prospect of a plentiful harvest.

A cloudy start to summer, with alternating periods of sunshine and rain, stimulated the growth of the vines and kept the team busy in the vines. Clear skies at the end of summer marked the start of a long period of drought, interspersed with a few spikes in temperature, in late August and early September. Radiant weather boosted the ripeness of the grapes, leading to quite an early start to the harvest in mid-September (a week earlier than the norm).

At Clinet, the Merlots were harvested from 13th to 20th September, then the Cabernet Sauvignon on 25th and 26th September. The characteristics of the harvested grapes, that were average in size, required very gentle handling during vinification, with long and slow extraction (a 28-day vatting period).

An early-cycle vintage, with regular rainfall, that benefitted from three weeks of very warm and dry weather just before the harvest. The sanitary condition of the grapes was excellent: average-sized berries, skins highly concentrated in tannins, and moderate levels of alcohol. These weather conditions concentrated the ripeness of the grapes (colour, balance, aromatic intensity), preserved aromatic finesse, and provided generous yields, the second highest over the past twenty years (after 2016).

Blend of the 2023 vintage

Figures from the 2023 sheet

• 14 % vol.Alcohol
• 42 hl/haYield
• 54,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Manual sorting. Light crushing. A “Galiléo” rotating concrete vat for vinification without pumping. Stainless steel vats, perfectly designed to house the different plots of CLINET. Vats equipped with an alveolar, double-walled, adjustable thermoregulation system

Ageing

80% new barrels, 20% second-fill barrels. Use of the OXOLINE system, to reduce “bâtonnage” (stirring of the lees). Expected ageing time: 18 months

Terroir

Autrefois rattaché aux vins de Saint-Emilion, Pomerol a su gagner seule ses lettres de noblesse depuis 1936, date à laquelle elle obtint son statut d'AOC. (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée). D'une superficie inférieure à 800 ha, c'est la plus petite des grandes régions viticoles du Bordelais. Pomerol est aussi la seule des grandes appellations de la région à n'avoir jamais connu de classement hiérarchique. Campée sur la Rive Droite de la Dordogne, le climat y est plus chaud que dans le Médoc (Rive Gauche) et le sol plus frais et humide.

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