Chateau Eglise Clinet

Château L’Église-Clinet is a small domaine which belongs to the very best of the appellation Pomerol on the Right Bank of the Bordeaux area. The history of the estate dates all the way back to 1803, when Jean Rouchut acquired some of the vineyards that later became L’Église-Clinet.

In 1882, the Rouchut family purchased some land from their neighbours, the Constant family, who owned the adjacent Domaine de Clinet (which later became Château Clinet). The families decided to join together and form a partnership and until the 1950’s, their wine was sold under the label Clos l’Église-Clinet. 1955 marked the first vintage that the wine was bottled under the name Château L’Église-Clinet.

In 1983, Denis Durantou took over the estate and immediately started to renovate the cellars as there was no floor, just dirt! Further investments included stainless steel, temperature-controlled vats and an increasing amount of new French oak barrels. The 4.4 Ha vineyard of Château L’Église-Clinet has been planted with 85% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec (although Malbec is seldom used for the blend).

The average age of the vines is 40 years and some old Cabernet Franc vines are over 80 years old (planted in 1935). In fact, L’Église-Clinet has some of the oldest vines in Pomerol and half of its vines planted are more than 50 years old! The wine is aged in up to 80% new French oak barrels for between 15 and 18 months before being bottled and the average production is only 1000 – 1500 cases every year.

Since 1986, La Petite Église is another wine produced by the château but not considered their second wine as the grapes are sourced from a sandier terroir within the vineyard. Especially since 1998, Château L’Église-Clinet is producing some of the finest wines from Pomerol.

Top vintages are: 1961, 1985, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.