One of the monumental wines in the vintage is the 2016 Château Eglise Clinet from proprietor Denis Durantou. Based on 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, this utterly perfect wine boasts a saturated purple color as well as an essence of Pomerol bouquet of ripe black cherries, blackcurrant liqueur, smoked tobacco, camphor, and graphite. Deep, full-bodied, incredibly powerful, and layered, yet always with class and balance, it offers a remarkable marriage of power and finesse. It’s already sexy and seductive yet also a baby, and needs 7-8 years of cellaring. It should keep for 3-4 decades (probably longer), but why wait?

We are now levitating somewhere above the rest of Denis Durantou's excellent range. Typical of the incredibly deft and precise way of working that is his signature, this wine brings cinammon and clove then hugely deep, rich dark fruits. Utterly elegant, it completes a circuit around your mouth. This is a physical reaction to a wine that you only get in certain vintages and in very few wines. A great European wine. 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc aged in 80% new oak. 43hl/ha yield from 4.2ha. Read more at http://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/france/bordeaux/chateau-l-eglise-clinet-pomerol-bordeaux-france-2016-11113#ybmYAg3TH7te5xgH.99

The depth and beauty in the aromas really draw you in with black truffles, blackberries, crushed stones, violets and other flowers. Black olives, too. Full-bodied, super refined and structured with perfectly manicured tannins and a very, very long finish. It’s full of soul and precision. Take a look after 2024.

The 2016 L'Eglise Clinet has a medium to deep garnet-purple color with aromas of warm black cherries, mulberries and Black Forest cake slipping seductively from the glass plus nuances of rose hip tea, baking spices, fragrant soil and fallen leaves. Medium to full-bodied, it's wonderfully elegant in the mouth with fantastically plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long and very perfumed. Beautiful!- LPB

Blackberry, floral, earth and smoke aromatics get you going. Not a showy wine, this is more of an intellectual experience. Still, there is no denying all the layers of ripe, dark red fruits, lush textures, concentration, richness and density. This will be one of the longest aged wines from Durantou, as it will not show well young, but with proper cellaring there could be more complexity than previous vintages. Blending 90% Merlot, which was picked from September 21 to October 4 and 10% Cabernet Franc, harvested October 6, the wine reached 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.60 and will be aged in 80% new French oak barrels. Showing his typical sense of humor, when asked how many cases were produced, Denis Durantou replied, "too few."

This pulls it all together, with a gorgeous core of creamed plum, blackberry and boysenberry confiture notes, laced with singed anise and incense accents and backed by long echoes of anise and black tea. Delivers ample flesh from start to finish, and should easily finish soaking up its toast with some time in the cellar. Best from 2023 through 2038. — JM