1975 l'Eglise Clinet

Opened to celebrate my 40th anniversary of writing about wine. Still dark ruby at its core shading to a pale rim. Lots of fine sediment. A whiff of dramatic cordite on the nose. Then lots of sweet fruit and the tannins – which I dreaded, having read earlier tasting notes on this wine from Broadbent and Parker – have dissipated! Really great wine that is now balanced, confident and intense. I opened it three hours before serving, decanted it, and promptly stoppered it up again. Wonderful sore-throat wine. (JR)

The most surprising wine in the Rodenstock tasting was the 1975 L'Eglise-Clinet. I have always admired this estate and have given some vintages extremely high marks (1985, 1989, 1990), but I had no familiarity with ancient vintages. The surprise of the week-end was the extraordinary quality of L'Eglise-Clinet. The 1975 was nearly as concentrated as L'Evangile and La Mission-Haut-Brion, as well as extremely youthful with a thick, dark ruby/purple color with no signs of age. Sweet and expansive, with jammy fruit, huge body, and tannin, this approachable but youthful wine should evolve effortlessly for another 25-30+ years. I wonder if all the stocks of old vintages of L'Eglise-Clinet are squirreled away in private cellars in Belgium? The notes for this wine are taken from the description of Series I of the 1995 tasting conducted in Munich by Helga and Hardy Rodenstock. Many years after the tasting from which this note derives allegations were made concerning the authenticity of old and rare bottles of wine sold by Hardy Rodenstock to collectors around the world. The matter has been the subject of numerous articles, litigation and at least one book. Mr. Parker believes that the wines served to him at this tasting were authentic so this note and the others from that specific tasting continue to be posted on eRobertParker.com.

The most surprising wine in the Rodenstock tasting was the 1975 L'Eglise-Clinet. I have always admired this estate and have given some vintages extremely high marks (1985, 1989, 1990), but I had no familiarity with ancient vintages. The surprise of the week-end was the extraordinary quality of L'Eglise-Clinet. The 1975 was nearly as concentrated as L'Evangile and La Mission-Haut-Brion, as well as extremely youthful with a thick, dark ruby/purple color with no signs of age. Sweet and expansive, with jammy fruit, huge body, and tannin, this approachable but youthful wine should evolve effortlessly for another 25-30+ years. I wonder if all the stocks of old vintages of L'Eglise-Clinet are squirreled away in private cellars in Belgium?||The notes for this wine are taken from the description of Series I of the 1995 tasting conducted in Munich by Helga and Hardy Rodenstock. Many years after the tasting from which this note derives allegations were made concerning the authenticity of old and rare bottles of wine sold by Hardy Rodenstock to collectors around the world. The matter has been the subject of numerous articles, litigation and at least one book. Mr. Parker believes that the wines served to him at this tasting were authentic so this note and the others from that specific tasting continue to be posted on eRobertParker.com. Wine Advocate.February, 1996