Description

The 2020 Feytit Clinet made a strong initial impact on me. And it just got better from there. Feytit Clinet is the most impressive wine I tasted at the En-Primeur tasting. It will be accessible young, but I would encourage you to leave the Chateau Feytit Clinet 2020 until after 2027.

Chateau Feytit Clinet Pomerol 2020 is sold En-Primeur. You order and pay now, to receive the En-Primeur pricing. You will receive the wine in mid-late 2023.

The 7 hectare of Feytit Clinet is to the west of the Pomerol plateau. Their vineyard divides into 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc sitting on gravel, sand and clay soils.

The Chasseuil family own and run Feytit Clinet. The winemaker and vineyard manager is Jeremy Chasseuil, who learned his trade at Chateau La Dominique in St Emilion.

Chateau Feytit Clinet Pomerol 2020 Wine Review

Vinous
95-97 points
“The 2020 Feytit Clinet is one of the most compelling wines in Pomerol, or all of Bordeaux, for that matter. Blackberry jam, creme de cassis, chocolate, espresso, lavender, licorice and gravel race across the palate. Explosive and powerful to the core, the 2020 is endowed with tons of pedigree. The tannins are incisive, as they so often are, but also impeccably balanced. What a wine! Tasted two times.”

Bordeaux

Situated near the Atlantic coast of France. The Gironde, Dordogne and Garonne rivers provide its shape. Cool conditions and frequent rainfall, including during harvest time, make Bordeaux quite a marginal region with vintages frequently ruined by rain or saved from the rain at the last minute by timely sunshine.

Pomerol 

Merlot dominates here ably supported by Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon, a distant (and sometimes non-existent) third. There is only 800 hectare of vines and almost 150 producers, and Pomerol is the only major appellation of Bordeaux to eschew a ranking system.  The quality at the top level is arguably better than any other Bordeaux, but it can vary.

Merlot

It gets a tough time most of the places it is grown. But in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion, Merlot not only dominates but makes some of the best wines in the world. Perfume, silky and plush. Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon season the wines with structure and acid, but in some places, like Petrus, they are almost not needed.

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is actually one of the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon… along with Sauvignon Blanc (oh! The name makes sense now!).  It is most famous for being the third most important grape in quality Bordeaux. But also excels in the Loire Valley (where it lived before it went to Bordeaux), especially Chinon and Saumur. The wines are bright red in colour, highly aromatic with raspberries, rose petals, violets along with tobacco, cassis and some herbal elements. The best examples can live as long as any great wine.

French Wine

The land that so many New World (not European) wine producers look to emulate. To generalise about French wine, I would say it is savoury, lighter-bodied wines. They are the definition of elegant, complex. There are many styles, though. And there is a French wine for every palate. They lead the world in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Burgundy. Sparkling Wine in Champagne. Cabernet and Merlot in Bordeaux. Syrah(Shiraz) and Grenache in the Rhone Valley. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris in Alsace. Sauvignon Blanc, and Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley. Gamay in Beaujolais.

Wine

Wine is the result you get from fermented grape juice. There is proof of wine production dating back 8000 years ago. Fashions, innovations and many other factors have influenced the way wine has evolved over the years.

The wine grape is pretty special. It contains everything you need to make grape wine except for the yeast, which lives on the outside of the skins.

Human inputs can influence the final product. This includes the viticulture (growing) choices. And the winemaker can shape the wine to a point too.

The best wines of the world often refer to terroir. This is a French term that refers to all the climatic, geological and topographical influences on a specific piece of land. And it is true that neighbouring vineyards, grown identically, can taste noticeably different.

Red Wine

Fun fact; most of the colour for wines comes from the skins. There are only a handful of grapes that have red juice. Alicante is the most well known of these grapes.

By macerating the juice on the skins, the wine gains tannins, and flavours. Certain compounds change the chemistry of the wine too.

Red wines tend to have higher alcohol. More tannin and more oak flavours compared to other styles of wine. But the thousands of grapes and terroirs they grow in influence this.

The Wine Depository

I, Phil, have been running The Wine Depository since 2011. The Wine Depository exists to make sure you are drinking the good wines. You can browse and pick what is interesting to you. Or you can make contact with me. I’ll make sure you get what you want, to your palate, to your budget and to your door.