2015 Ch. Clos Fourtet Saint Emilion 1st Classified Growth B

About the Wine

An absolute blockbuster is the 2015 Clos Fourtet, which is a blend of 88% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. It offers a huge nose of black and blue fruits, loads of incense, violets, chocolate, and underbrush aromas, full body, a seductive, ethereal texture, lots of fine tannins, and a finish that just won’t quit. This is as classy, seamless, and elegant as it gets. Give bottle 4-5 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two decades.

This estate has been renovated by new owner Monsieur Cuvelier, manager Tony Ballu (owner of Pierre de Lune), and consultant Stéphane Derenocourt. The vineyard covers 20 hectares of prime real estate on the western plateau of Saint-Emilion and consists of a thin layer of clay over limestone subsoils. The wine is always a Merlot dominated cuvee (there’s normally 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc) that sees a normal 30-day maceration, a portion of the blend seeing malo in barrel, and the wine spending 18 months in 60% new barrels. The 2014 is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage, as is the more blockbuster styled 2015. Don’t miss these wines! 98 Jeb Dunnuck

The 2015 Clos Fourtet is a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc, and it was picked between 18 September and 12 October. It has a voluminous bouquet with sweet cassis and blueberry aromas, rather smudged with violets coming through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded tannin, ripe and voluptuous, dark chocolate infusing the red and black fruit with a touch of mint on the structured, graceful finish. What a fabulous Saint Emilion from Mathieu Cuvelier and his team - Clos Fourtet with breeding and class. It deserves 5-8 years in bottle. 95-97 WA