The estate of Clos L’Eglise in Pomerol is run by Hélène Garcin Lévêque, and her family have been the custodians of this estate since they acquired it in 1997, writes John Willis. The property, which dates back to the 18th Century, used to be 14 hectares, double the size it is today. The missing half went to form part of Château L’Eglise Clinet in 1954. The size of Clos L’Eglise is small (even by Pomerol standards) with only 5.9 ha under vine at present. Tasting the vintages from 1997-2016 was a fantastic insight into the overall philosophy of this estate and shows the general improvement of the wines across the period. A genuine sense of place, of terroir, comes across in the wines of this ambitious Pomerol, something to which many properties aspire but sometimes fail to achieve. 

In the run up to Christmas The Wine Society organised a tasting in London tutored by Charles Chevallier of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. There was a good spread of vintages from the Chateau – 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1995 and 1990 and the event was well organised. Charles Chevallier was tantalising about the much heralded 2009 vintage – which he described it as ‘a very great vintage’ in the making. So I’m sorry if you spent all your money on 2005 – you had better be prepared to fork out again once the 2009 wine is relased to the market in a couple of months time. And what will asking price be? Well a case of the 2005 currently trades for around £8000-£9000 [$12,000-$14000]. My bet is it won’t be much short of that after it hits the market. The 2005 itself at the tasting, did however, prove every bit as good as people have said it is, so it is difficult to imagine that wine being easily trumped by 2009 however good it is.