1964 l'Eglise Clinet

This bottle of 1964 L'Eglise-Clinet was bottled by Hanappier, a reputed Belgian merchant with whom I have had several positive experiences. It has a gorgeous bouquet, much more floral than the 1964 La Fleur-Pétrus. It's vibrant and beautifully defined. There's real purity here. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins, smooth and harmonious with slightly more acidity. It's peppery towards the somewhat powerful and almost viscous finish. This is a superb Pomerol that still has some years ahead of it. Tasted blind at Olivier Bernard's "4" dinner at Domaine de Chevalier.

The 1964 L'Eglise Clinet is a very powerful but somewhat rustic wine, offering up somewhat overripe aromas of plums and figs mingled with hints of loamy soil and truffle that brighten up with some time in the decanter and glass. Full-bodied, muscular and broad-shouldered, it's a concentrated, heady, old-school Pomerol that is more impressive than it is charming. That said, given how well it evolved with aeration, I'll be decanting my remaining bottle for a few hours before drinking it.

The 1964 l’Eglise-Clinet is a wine that I have been graced with in three occasions and it is definitely the best vintage under former régisseur Pierre Lasserre. I first encountered it at the property when Denis Durantou kindly organized a vertical for my tome. It had a very intense bouquet with hung game scents tincturing the red berry fruit, white fennel and rosemary developing later all with great delineation. The palate is quite substantial, translating the warmth of that summer on the Right Bank. Fleshy and rounded, touches of white pepper sprinkled over the finish, this is the one vintage from the sixties that has real gusto on the finish. Subsequent bottles have tended to be a little more Left Bank in character, quite rustic with undergrowth notes on the nose. Great bottles will still charm the socks off you. Tasting note taken from the Pomerol book by Neal Martin.