Chateau Clinet Dinner

A tasting dinner in Vintner's Hall London arranged by Ditton Wine Traders with Ronan Laborde and Neal Martin. Perfect timing with the release of the '12s a couple of days earlier and great to have both Ronan and Neal on hand to quiz and buy signed copies of his new Pomerol book.

Excellent presentation from Ronan & Neal on the Chateau and an overview of Pomerol. Then a short tasting of the '05 and '11. I was amazed on how good the '11 was.

• 2005 Château Clinet 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Drank from double magnum. Still quite closed and would recommend holding off drinking for another couple of years. It has a massive structure and you can feel the tannins evolving nicely. This will be an amazing wine in future years. 93++

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• 2011 Château Clinet 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Wow I was surprised by this wine, it is amazing for such a weak vintage. Notes of plumbs, cherries, earth, tobacco and spice. Still a lot of tannins on the palate but I think this will be approachable young. Great length. Still cannot believe how good this is.

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Wonderful stuff with the '93 being served with dessert, Ronan told me that he drank red with all courses :-). Neal was great fun as usual with his dry wit and bad taste in music.

• 2001 Château Clinet 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Drank from Double Magnum. I am not sure I agree with other people's drinking windows on this. I think it will last a lot longer. This has a huge amount of fruit on the nose and is very open. Lovely complex mouth with a slight short finish. It does fade after a couple of hours. The '01 is so different to the older vintages and really is much more new world style.

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• 1996 Château Clinet 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Nose of earth, oak, leather and plumbs. Nice smooth mouth and a medium length. The '95 is slightly better.

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• 1995 Château Clinet 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Much more livelier than the '93 with a quite a lot of tannins left. Notes of plumb, oak, spice and earth and a silky smooth mouth with a medium length.

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• 1993 Château Clinet 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Had with desert which was very unusual. Tasted very like a classic left bank claret but still some life left in it. Notes of cherry, oak and earth with a complex mouth and a slight sweetness to the finish.

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An excellent evening showing off Clinet's steady move upwards in terms of quality culminating in the 100 point '09. The '93 was very old world and the '01 the opposite. The WOTN for me was the surprise on how good the 2011 is drinking from bottle.