Clinet 2014

vinous94

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

The 2014 Clinet is powerful, deep and enveloping. Black cherry, smoke, graphite, chocolate and French oak give the wine its intensity and gravitas. Hints of lavender and violet develop in the glass, adding lovely aromatic nuance, but the 2014 remains a big, imposing wine in need of cellaring. This is impressive juice. Tasted two times.

vinous90

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2014 Clinet is a wine that left me perplexed when I tasted it multiple times both from barrel and in bottle. The litmus test is how it shows blind... Here it has a lifted bouquet with truffle and smoke-infused red fruit, a subtle hickory note coming through with aeration. One or two attendees at the tasting suggested brettanomyces. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chewy tannin, spicy in the mouth with a dash of white pepper towards the firm, quite masculine and angular finish. Two bottles tasted with consistent notes. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

robert_parker91

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The Château Clinet 2014 is a blend of 90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc picked from 23 to 30 September, 3 October for the old Merlot vines and 8 October with respect Cabernets. It was cropped at 40 hectoliters per hectare and matured in 60% new barrels and 40% second fill. It has a well-defined bouquet, quite stony compared to more fruit-driven Pomerol 14's, scents of gravel percolating through the light blackberry and boysenberry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm, slightly abrasive tannin at the moment that will hopefully be abraded during its barrel age. It feels a little attenuated on the finish and you feel taken aback by the lack of its usual concentration and flamboyance on the finish. Interestingly a second sample (at the UGC) showed more cohesion and weight on the finish vis to the sample at the château. Ronan Laborde has produced some truly wonderful wines at Clinet in recent years, but I need convincing that the 2014 will join their ranks. I will hopefully re-taste this later during its barrel maturation and report back.

robert_parker91

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2014 Clinet was a wine that perplexed when I tasted it from barrel and as a consequence, it was one that I went back and retasted three or four times during that primeur campaign. Now in bottle, the bouquet has improved and developed more fruit concentration, armed with red plum, wild strawberry and blueberry scents. The palate is medium-bodied and quite refined, certainly not as opulent as other vintages from the estate, perhaps just missing a persistence on the angular finish. It is not a bad Clinet by a long stretch, it just feels a little constricted, especially compared to say the 2010 or 2015. I tasted this on three occasions, drawing the same conclusion each time.

vinous95

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

The 2014 Clinet lacks a bit of vigor on the nose, tarry black fruit with pencil shavings and tobacco, a little Left Bank in style indicative of some ripe Cabernet Franc. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins, fleshy with fine acidity, though it just misses amplitude and personality on the finish where is just seems to coast. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.

james_suckling94

Reviewed by: James Suckling

A tight and subtle wine with very pretty ripe-fruit character and chocolate. Medium to full body. Needs time to open. Better in 2020.