Ch. Clinet
Ch. Clinet
Pomerol
2015

The producer

Clinet is one of oldest properties in Pomerol with records of vineyards dating back to 1785. The modern history of the estate starts in the early 1990s, when Clinet was acquired by the Audy family. Jean-Michel Arcaute, married to Clinet owner George Audy’s daughter, ran the estate for many years and was largely responsible for the enormous improvement of both vineyard work and cellar management, and thus greatly improved wine quality. Michel Rolland consulted for a period between 1985 and 2014. In 1998, the estate was acquired by Jean-Louis Laborde, who’s son Ronan Laborde is running the estate today, and who has achieved even higher quality from the land.

Clinet is a small property of only 9 hectares situated on the famous Pomerol plateau. Merlot dominates the vineyards with up to 80% of plantings, with the remainder a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabenet Franc, and the average vine age is 45 years.

The wine

The grape blend for the Clinet’s grand vin varies with fruit ripeness and vintage condition but usually consists of around 80% Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is 45 years. fermentation takes place parcel by parcel in temperature controlled stainless steel vats, and is followed by ageing in up to 60% new French oak barrels. Clinet is one of the finest Pomerols available and a wine of enormous concentration, richness and complexity.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.