CLOS FOURTET [ST EMILION] 2020 750ML

The 2020 Clos Fourtet is a towering, statuesque beauty that captures all the personality and character of this site in a wine that marries vertical intensity, power and explosive energy. Black cherry, gravel, menthol, sage, crushed rocks and chocolate all soar out of the glass. This is a tremendous showing from the Cuvelier family.

One of the biggest successes on the upper plateau is the 2020 Château Clos Fourtet, and it does everything right in the vintage. A magical, perfumed bouquet of red plums, black cherries, white truffle, and white flowers just screams Saint-Emilion, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, flawless overall balance, a dense mid-palate, and a liqueur of rocks-like minerality on the palate. Building incrementally with time in the glass, this is thrilling stuff that should offer some up-front appeal in its youth yet benefit from 7-8 years in the cellar and keep for 30 years or more. Bravo! The blend is 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Cabernet Franc that’s still resting in 50% new French oak.

Dark, brooding nose, jammy and ripe, heady and evocative. Really beautiful texture, grip, length and overall styling here. I like this more than the 2019, it’s dark with tons of liquorice and spice - wood is on show, but this has an excellent frame and such allure. Sensual, chalky and grippy in a good way with such persistence and length, mouthfilling but elegant at the same time. Bramble fruit flavours with cool blueberries, pomegranates and raspberries and lovely licks of wet stone and slate. Serious power but not taken too far. This has sex appeal with a gorgeous juiciness keeping things pure and lively. A clear standout.

Subtle aromas of orange peel, sweet tobacco and currants follow through to a medium body, fine tannin texture and a fresh finish. Extremely tight now, but persistent at the finish. Classy. Best of the triology.

The 2020 Clos Fourtet is a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc, harvested from 15th to 30th September and weighing in with an alcohol of 14.5% and a pH of 3.6. It is being aged for 14-18 months in 50% new oak barrels, 48% second-fill barrels and 2% amphora. Deep garnet-purple in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with ripe, expressive notes of crushed black plums, juicy black berries and black cherry preserves, followed by hints of ground cloves, cinnamon stick, camphor and cedar chest. The medium to full-bodied palate is jam-packed with bright, vivacious black fruits, framed by velvety tannins and bags of freshness, finishing with great length.

This wine's structure is massive. Serious tannins are matched with generous black fruits. Acidity gives a succulent character at the back of all this dense texture. It's a wine to age.