Chateau Clinet Pomerol Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Clinet Pomerol, Bordeaux wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Clinet is situated on great terroir. Their Bordeaux wine vineyards are located at the highest point on the Pomerol Plateau. Chateau Clinet has good company on the plateau. It’s closest neighbors are only a stones throw away, L’Eglise Clinet, Clos L’Eglise, Feytit Clinet and Trotanoy. 

Chateau Clinet once belonged to the Constant Family, before it passed to the Arnaud family. The Arnaud’s had good taste in wine. At the same time, they were also owners of the famed Bordeaux wine property, Petrus!  Following the Arnaud’s involvement, from 1900 to 1991, Chateau Clinet became the property of the Audy family. They were best known as Bordeaux negociant’s.  When the managing director Jean Michel Arcaute arrived in the late 1970′s, Chateau Clinet began producing some of the best wine in their history within a few short years.

Jean Michel Arcaute’s desire was to bring Chateau Clinet to the top level of the best producers of Pomerol wine, which is where Chateau Clinet was in the early 19th century. Arcaute began to change everything about the vineyard management technique of the day being practiced at Chateau Clinet. He instigated leaf thinning, green harvesting while striving to harvest fruit that was fully ripe, with ripe skins, seeds and even stems if possible. More importantly for the wines of Chateau Clinet, they also reduced the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted in the vineyards. For harvest, the discontinued the use of machine harvesting and quickly moved to picking by hand, to insure that only the best grapes were picked at placed in Chateau Clinet.

The also made changes in the varietals planted in their vineyards. Chateau Clinet is one of the few Pomerol properties with a large percentage, (Large for Pomerol) of Cabernet Sauvignon in their vineyards. He brought in Michel Rolland as the consultant and they set out to make wine that challenged the best estates of Pomerol. They increased the amount of new, French oak barrels the wine was aging in, as well as increasing the time the wine spent in oak. To prove they were serious, they declassified the entire 1984 crop at Chateau Clinet.

In 1991, Chateau Clinet was sold to Gan insurance. Arcaute remained the director of the estate. Clinet was bought by Jean-Louis Laborde in late 1998. Tragically, Arcaute died in a boating accident in 2001. Today, Chateau Clinet is managed by the son of Jean Louis Laborde, the young, hard working and talented, Ronan Laborde.

Ronan Laborde could have been a competitive marathon runner if he was not a wine maker with times close to the 2 hour and 27 minute mark! When told he could train with the best, all he had to do was give up eating great dinners and drinking even better wine, he declined and placed all his focus on turning Chateau Clinet into one of the top wines of Pomerol. Michel Rolland consults this Bordeaux wine property.  Chateau Clinet has been improving slowly but steadily since the Laborde famlily purchased the Right Bank estate. 2008 was a big jump in quality and their 2009 Bordeaux wine is even better! 2009 Chateau Clinet is clearly one of the top wines of entire, legendary vintage.

Chateau Clinet also produces a second wine, Fleur de Clinet which is made from declassified wine from Clinet and purchased fruit.

The 11.27 hectare, Pomerol vineyard of Chateau Clinet consists of 45 year old vines planted to 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is planted to a vine density ranging from 6,77 vine per hectare to 7,200 vines per hectare. However Clinet also has some of the oldest vines in Pomerol. Located close to the church, Clinet has a parcel of Merlot that is close to 75 years of age, “Grand Vigne.” This special section of the Chateau Clinet vineyards represents almost 20% of their vines. This is the heart and soul of Clinet. This delicate section of vines requires special treatment. Horses are used to work the soils.

The soils of Chateau Clinet are gravel, clay and iron rich sand. The vines are located in three main parcels. In 2010 and again in 2012, Ronan Laborde purchased more property in Pomerol increasing the size of Chateau Clinet. About 50% of the new vines will be used in Clinet. The remaining vines will be used in their second wine, Fleur de Clinet.

At Chateau Clinet, after harvest, the grapes are gently moved by gravity flow into 11 different, underground, wooden vats. 9 of the vats are 60 hectoliters, the remaining two vats are 40 hectoliters. This allows for the fermentation to be conducted in a much more precise manner allowing each plot to be vinified to its needs. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barrels. The wine of Chateau Clinet is aged in 60% new, French oak barrels for between 18 to 22 months. The wine is blended after the oak aging is completed. The press wine is aged separately. If it’s determined the wine requires more structure, the press wine is added during the final blending.  Production is close to 3,200 cases of Chateau Clinet per year. There is a second wine, Fleur de Clinet which is produced from a blend of declassified Clinet and purchased fruit. The estate also produces a lesser priced wine sold under the name of Ronan by Clinet, which is produced from 100% Merlot and is sold as a generic, value priced, Bordeaux wine. The family also owns one of the top estates in the Tokaji region.

The wines of Clinet are rich, supple, sensuous, powerful and in the best vintages, offer floral, chocolate and spicy flavors. The wine ages well, developing sensous textures and aromatic complexities. Because this Bordeaux wine estate has been in a rebuilding process, (Since purchasing it in 1999) the property has not been producing wines at the level of the terroir. Chateau Clinet is winning a lot of friends with it’s new high quality and their very friendly pricing policy due to a desire to build long term relationships with customers. For the time being prices remain low for a Pomerol of this level of quality, making Chateau Clinet a property to keep an eye on.

 www.chateauclinet.com