Chateau Clos Fourtet 2019

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Even better in the bottle after its aging period, the wine explodes with flowers, black cherries, plums, mint, espresso, cocoa, licorice and crushed rocks. The wine is full-bodied, opulent, rich, silky, fresh and long. The palate is coated with layers of dark red pit fruits with that elusive touch of salt, silky tannins and purity in the fruits that radiate from the mid-palate continuing all the way through to the long, velvety, harmonious finish. Give this at least a few years in the cellar and it should offer pleasure for the following 3 decades with ease. Drink from 2025-2055."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2019 Clos Fourtet is another gem from the Right Bank that delivers the goods. From the upper, limestone plateau and always a bigger, richer wine than its neighbors (Canon, Beau-Séjour Bécot), it still shows incredible minerality and limestone character in its deep black cherry, currant, and mulberry fruits as well as scorched earth, chalky minerality, roasted herb, licorice, and white flower-like aromas and flavors. Rich, full-bodied, concentrated, and structured on the palate, it's flawlessly balanced, has ripe, broad, building tannins, an expansive mouthfeel, and a great, great finish. It needs a decade of bottle age, but it’s truly brilliant stuff."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "The 2019 Clos Fourtet is a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges out of the gate with energetic scents of crushed blackberries, juicy black plums, and black raspberries, plus suggestions of cedar, pencil shavings, and chocolate box. The full-bodied palate is taut and tightly wound with loads of black fruit and mineral layers supported by firm, grainy tannins, finishing with a spicy lift."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Attractive aromas of wild berries, pencil shavings, vine smoke, black truffle and violets introduce the 2019 Clos Fourtet, a medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless wine with a concentrated core of fruit, beautifully refined tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, saline finish. Elegant and complete, this is a brilliant wine from this 19-hectare vineyard situated on the limestone plateau of Saint-Émilion, just outside the village, which has been on a qualitative roll since the 2001 vintage."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Lots of purple fruit with white pepper and crushed stones in the nose. It’s full-bodied, yet tight and poised with a very chalky and salty undertone to the purple fruit. Flavorful finish. Linear and long. Try after 2026."

DECANTER: "Compared to the 2018, this vintage displays a cooler aspect to go with the ripe red and black fruit: more tobacco leaf than glycerine. Even if the alcohol and pH are similar, this vintage was aged in less new oak, and was the first to include some amphorae. The tannins are noticeable at this very early stage, even slightly more aggressive than those of the 2018. But when they settle down, the 2019 will overtake the 2018, at least because of slightly better balance. 3.6pH."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "A very fine wine, rich and generous in all the senses. It has weight, density set against elegant black fruits and spice from wood aging. The wine will need many years. Drink from 2027."

WINE SPECTATOR: " There's ample dark cherry, plum and boysenberry compote flavors in this red, along with a rare hint of brightness for the vintage. Licorice root and applewood accents fill in through the finish, while an underlying chalky minerality gives this additional form as well. Very solid. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2025 through 2038. 3,500 cases made, 500 cases imported."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, dezente Randaufhellung. Dunkle Beeren, Zwetschken, etwas Nugat, dezent mit Mandarinenzesten unterlegt, etwas scheues Bukett. Engmaschig, sehr mineralisch, salzig, rote Kirschfrucht, reife Tannine, dezente Extraktsüße, zart kräuterwürzig im Abgang, mittlere Länge, wirkt im Moment noch etwas unterentwickelt und spröde."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Tasted blind. Correct and classy but very reined-in. Taut finish and no opulence. But it grew in the glass."