"Tremendous colour, tight and dense with well managed tannins. There is good richness here but closed, more serious, more restrained, needs time to flesh up. This will age beautifully and offers great value.
92 Points, Neal Martin: "Tasted from a sample in the UK, the Clos du Clocher has an exuberant, forward, quite ravishing bouquet my aligned to 2009 than 2010. The palate is quite precocious with macerated dark cherries and cassis. It has a sweet core of fruit that is Saint Emilion in style, leading to a noticeably sweet finish where I am seeking more reserve. Hopefully this will calm down with bottle age. Tasted November 2012.""
Clos de Clocher was born in 1924 by Jean Baptiste Audy when he started to acquire plots of vines in the shadow of the church spire in the heart of Pomerol, this is the same dense iron-rich clay terroir as fabled neighbours such as Petrus, Le Pin, La Conseillante and Vieux Château Certan. The property comprises three plots covering a total of 4.6ha, Merlot, of course, takes pride of place, but 30% of the blend comes from old Cabernet Franc vines that give the wine a distinct personality.
The vineyards are tended by hand and fermentaions are undertaken in a combination of concrete and stainless steel vats before the wines are matured in barrel for up to 18 months. The final blend is decided in partnership with Michel Rolland and his team. In recent years the excellent quality and splendid value for money of this wine has been ever more widely recognised.
