La Petite Eglise 2019 Pomerol Denis Durantou

Origin: Pomerol, Bordeaux, France

Robert Parker’s Notes:

“The 2019 La Petite Eglise has turned out brilliantly in bottle, wafting from the glass with aromas of raspberries, sweet spices, rose petals, black truffle, orange rind and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and concentrated, it’s supple and enveloping, with lively acids, powdery tannins and a long, penetrating finish. These days, this isn’t really a “second wine” per se, as it combines some younger vine fruit with two dedicated parcels, one located next to Pomerol’s church, the other by the château of La Fleur-Pétrus.

One of Pomerol’s greatest estates, the bulk of L’Eglise Clinet’s holdings are located around the winery itself, opposite Château Clinet, complemented by two small parcels, one by the church and another next to the château of La Fleur-Pétrus. The oldest vines date back to 1919, and the late Denis Durantou—whose swan-song vintage the wines reviewed here represent—was a great believer in the importance of high-quality vine genetics and propagating his own massal selections to replant here, as well as his other right bank estates. Vinification is simple but meticulous, with fermentations at relatively low temperature in stainless steel, malolactic fermentation in tank and maturation in some 80% new oak, the vast majority sourced from Tonnellerie Darnajou. The result? Wines that represent the appellation at its best: dominated by Merlot, but concentrated, structured and serious; developing extraordinary complexity with bottle age—the antithesis, in other words, of Pomerol’s alter ego, the fleshy fruit-bombs from sandy soils on the periphery of the appellation. – Drink 2024-2045″