Opulent, lush, and loaded with layers of perfectly ripe, black and red plums, chocolate, cherries, flowers, truffle, licorice, smoke, and a background note of mint. The wine is concentrated, long, deep, and fresh, with silky tannins and a finish that doesn't want to quit. Drink from 2023-2045.

85% merlot 12% cabernet sauvignon 3% cabernet franc. Aged in 60% new oak and 40% one year old barrels. The vines average 43 years in age planted on a mix of clay and gravel soils. Michel Rolland consults. From the first whiff this hits you as a sensational wine as the nose is fabulously fragrant and enticing with gobs of black fruit that find harmony in ripeness and freshness and a streak of minerality cuts through the fruit along with lavender and vanilla. A seductively smooth entry leads to a seamless and layered wine that delivers from beginning to end. Layer upon layer of concentrated blackberry mineral earth and mocha flavors build on the palate while effortlessly receding on the finish. Polished tannins caress the back of the wine and round out this beautiful offering. Difficult to provide words that would do the 2010 Clinet justice this is a powerful effort that displays terrific structure and is deftly poised and balanced. This outstanding wine could potentially be a 50 year wine. Bravo!

The definition of poised and confident, this has pretty much consistently delivered since the very first taste during En Primeur. Deeply layered, textured, confident and powerful, both very Pomerol and very 2010. Coffee beans and bitter chocolate are the dominant flavours alongside cassis and blackberry autumnal berry fruits. Both gourmet and restrained. Just about ready to go but will hugely benefit from three to four hours in carafe first, and will further improve over the next few years, and indeed over the decades to come.

Gorgeous nose with lots of dark fruit like plum and blueberries. Crushed pepper and chalk with wild strawberries and vanilla. Dense and velvety on the palate with superbly polished tannins and great depth. It's absolutely gorgeous now but needs at least five to six years of bottle age to really shows its great quality.

I continue to love the 2010 Château Clinet, and I'd say it's just now in the early phases of its prime drinking window. Based on 85% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc, it has the powerful, full-bodied, structured style of the vintage as well as beautiful red and black fruits, spicy wood, tobacco, and graphite-like aromas and flavors. This classic Clinet blossoms with air and it's balanced, has ample structure and well-integrated tannins, and a great finish. I think you can safely open bottles any time over the coming two decades or more. Drink 2025-2044.

Grilled oak, touches of bitter chocolate and smoked rosemary and cumin herbs, this is clearly still muscular, cassis fruits, liquorice, slate, dark and bristling, needs another few years in bottle but it is on the way towards a brilliant wine. 60% new oak. Ronan Laborde owner.

Deep garnet colored, the 2010 Clinet rolls sensuously out of the glass with notes of Black Forest cake, blueberry compote and plum preserves plus hints of cigar box, cardamom and cloves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate reveals pleasant poise with loads of savory sparks on the finish.- LPB

This showy, packed and well-endowed Pomerol pumps out notes of warm linzer torte, plum preserves and blackberry reduction, all supported by a broad, charcoal- and ganache-coated structure and deeply embedded acidity. Very muscular on the back end, this boasts a still-chewy feel. Among the most backward of the 2010 Pomerols, this requires significant cellaring. For those who enjoy more power than subtlety. Best from 2017 through 2035. – JM

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux 2010 tasting. The Clinet 2010 has a tempting truffle-scented bouquet with fine delineation - crushed violets developing beautifully in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp red berry fruit on the entry, fine angular tannins with a tart but focused, tense finish. This is a fabulous Clinet from Ronan Laborde and his team, although I suspect that the 2009 Clinet may eventually turn out to be the superior wine. Tasted January 2014.

(WE 92-94 points) New wood mint aromas give this wine its great polished feel. The tannins offer a counterpoint of richness here, firm and dense. The fruit takes a while to show through, then brings the fine plum skin flavors suffusing through the wine.