Winemaker Notes
The wine reveals an aromatic richness on the nose with black plum, black cherry, and light notes of licorice, where floral tones integrate seamlessly with cinnamon. On the palate, it is concentrated in black fruits, powerful, and spicy, with a refreshing bitterness that enhances the balance alongside acidity and peppery nuances. Long, intense, and structured, it shows great potential, as barrel aging already harmonizes with the wine and will continue to add complexity over the years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is pure merlot, with black chocolate, bark, black truffle, ripe plum, and violets. Some black olives. This is very structured and linear with super fine tannins that run very, very long. Dense silky texture. Less than 3,000 bottles made. 1.1 hectares in total. Needs five to six years of bottle age.
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Jeb Dunnuck
What could end up being a real superstar in the vintage, the tiny production 2020 Enclos Tourmaline is 100% Merlot, from clay soils, that’s still resting in 100% new French oak. It boasts a rich, powerful, full-bodied style that carries lots of minerality as well as structure to go with ample darker berry and cassis-like fruit, notes of camphor, toasted spice, incense, plenty of background oak, and building tannins. It’s a beautiful wine, but it’s not for those seeking instant gratification. Give bottles 4-5 years at a minimum, and it should keep for 20+.
Barrel Sample: 94-96+ -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A broad, ripe, expressive wine, the 2020 Enclos Tourmaline offers up aromas of cherries and plums mingled with licorice and toasty new oak, followed by a medium to full-bodied, expansive, fleshy palate. This is a rich, broad-shouldered wine from holdings on the plateau respectively located between Le Pin and Trotanoy, opposite Clinet, and opposite the château of La Fleur-Pétrus.
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Decanter
A consistent estate, this has powerful dark fruits - damson and bilberry, good spice and plenty of length. Enjoyable stuff from Peter Kwok's Vignoble K.
Barrel Sample: 92
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.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.