Chateau La Clotte 2015
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This was the first vintage for the Vauthier family of Château Ausone off this tiny three-hectare estate. Composed of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 18 months in French oak barrels, 85% new, the 2015 La Clotte displays a medium to deep garnet-purple color and a very spicy nose of cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise and allspice over core of red and black currants, mulberries and black soil plus a waft of violets. Full-bodied and decadently fruited with a firm backbone of very ripe, beautifully velvety tannins, it has a lively backbone providing loads of lift throughout the very long finish.
Rating: 95+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
Made by Alain Vauthier and from a similar terroir to Ausone, yet with a different exposition, the 2015 Château La Clotte is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon raised in 85% new French oak. Possessing an incredible elegance and purity, with medium to full-bodied richness and notes of cassis and black raspberry fruits, underbrush, damp earth and subtle oak, it has a striking floral component, a great mid-palate, and sweet tannin, all suggesting it’s going to keep for at least 10-15 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This marks the first full vintage of this wine with the same winemaking team as Château Ausone. It shows great promise with supple black fruits, ripe tannins and intense acidity. The wine will age well with its firm structure as well as great acidity and crispness at the end. Drink from 2025.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Very perfumed and beautiful with blackberry and blueberry aromas that follow through to a medium to full body, firm and silk tannins and a chalky and limestone undertone. Peppery edge. Lightly chewy finish. Give it three or four years to soften.
Other Vintages
2021-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
Since 1992, Régis has continued to develop the vineyard. He has bought additional plots of land, he has developed sales, he has further modernized the winery and he has built a team up around him. He aims to develop the reputation of his estate via the internet and social media and also through the numerous competitions he enters, which have seen him and his wines win a great many medals and other prizes.
The estate covers 20 ha of the Entredeux-Mers, straddling the villages of St. Laurent du Bois, St. Martial and St. Pierre de Bat. The soil is made of chalk and clay.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.