Chateau Clinet 2011

When Ronan Laborde inherited stewardship of Clinet in 2004, he made a deliberate choice that runs counter to the entire Right Bank playbook: he kept Cabernet Sauvignon in the vineyard. While neighbours stripped it out after the 1956 frost, Clinet retained pre-frost plantings, and the 2011 blend reflects that conviction — Merlot dominant but with a Cabernet Sauvignon backbone that no Pétrus or L'Évangile can replicate.

The estate occupies the highest point on the Pomerol plateau at 35 metres, where Günz gravel over deep clay with iron-rich crasse de fer subsoil delivers simultaneous drainage, heat retention, and a graphite-mineral precision that reads clearly in the glass. La Grand Vigne parcel — old-vine Merlot planted 1934, horse-ploughed — contributes approximately 20% of the fruit and anchors the wine's structural depth.

Maceration runs 28–30 days for slow, thorough extraction; malolactic fermentation completes in French oak barrel; the wine ages 16–22 months in French oak with the new-oak proportion calibrated to vintage. Bottled neither fined nor filtered, preserving the mineral imprint of the terroir intact. The 2011 growing season — a cooler, more restrained Bordeaux year — produced a wine of tighter structure and lower alcohol than the opulent 2009 or 2010, with the Cabernet Sauvignon component lending particular definition. Drinking well now through 2035+.