1999 L'Eglise-Clinet

Denis Durantou brought in his 2001 merlot on September 22 and 23, just before a substantial rainstorm. "Each year, there's really only a three or four day window for picking perfectly," noted Durantou, who told me last year that he may have harvested a bit late in 2000. Durantou's comparison of his 2001 and his 2000 closely mirrored my own impressions of the wines I tasted at a number of estates in the Medoc as well as on the right bank. "The 2000 is all about power, but the wine tends to be alcoholic, even a bit heavy. We needed the cabernet franc to balance the massive merlot. The 2001 is more complex and will be easier to drink. It may be less powerful but it's more complete; it's a more intellectual wine that's full of surprises. It plays on the palate like a Champagne with a very fine mousse. My 2001 is a very pure expression of old vines on the Pomerol plateau, rather than simply a vin de cepage." Durantou went on to say that he considered the brilliant '98 L'Eglise-Clinet the best wine he has ever made, and the only one he expects to be alive in 50 years. "Imagine what we could have made in 1985 if the yield had been 35 hectoliters, as it was in 2001, rather than the 52 we made in '85."

Despite the huge flowering in '99, Denis Durantou will bottle less L'Eglise-Clinet than in '98 due to severe crop-reduction (Durantou removed fruit until literally the day before the harvest began) and strict selection. "We had one or two heat spells in '99," noted Durantou, "but it was not a particularly hot summer. The molecules responsible for green tastes dissipated. There may be some vegetal notes of green tea, tobacco or blackcurrant, but there are no herbaceous elements in the wine. "Durantou did less chaptalization of the cabernet franc in '99 and brought in merlot in the 13.5%-14% range. He picked the merlot early "because I didn't want to make port. I always pick fresh, crispy berries." This is a wine of sheer material rather than winemaking razzmatazz: "no concentrating device, no saignee, no malolactic fermentation in oak." Still, Durantou gets plenty of mileage from his use of all Darnajou barrels: "I belong to the butter and caramel family of Darnajou, not the overroasted coffee and burnt rubber family of Seguin-Moreau."