2018 Enclos Tourmaline
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2018 Enclos Tourmaline is made of 100% Merlot. The wine fermented in 100% new oak and was aged in barrels for about 20 months. With 14.7% alcohol and a deep garnet-purple color, it leaps from the glass with wonderfully pure notes of crushed black plums and blackberries, leading to an undercurrent of camphor, chargrill, forest floor and unsmoked cigars. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers tightly wound black fruit and savory layers, supported by firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. Give it a good 4-5 years in bottle for it to really strut its stuff and then drink it over the next 20+ years. Enclos Tourmaline comes from the lieu-dit Clinet, close to La Fleur-Pétrus and Trotanoy.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Enclos Tourmaline, matured in 100% new oak for 15 months, is very harmonious on the nose, offering blackberry and blueberry, sage and dry tobacco, and coming across more herbal compared to its stablemate, La Patache. The palate is well balanced, smooth and sensual, with fine tannins, well-judged acidity and a composed and tender finish. This is a sublime Pomerol, one that may warrant a higher score in the future. If it were a singer, it would Bryan Ferry in his mid-70s Lothario years.
I always love this cuvée, which today is made by Jerome Aguirre with consulting advice from Michel Rolland. The 2018 Enclos Tourmaline is 100% Merlot from a tiny parcel in Pomerol and was brought up in new French oak. It takes some coaxing on the nose, but it offers up a pure, layered bouquet of ripe black fruits, tobacco leaf, chocolate, damp earth, and Asian spices. This carries to a powerful, fruit-bomb beauty with a weighty, expansive, full-bodied texture that carries gorgeous tannins, a deep, layered mid-palate, and that rare sense of richness paired with elegance. This is a gorgeous, thrilling Pomerol that offers both hedonistic and intellectual pleasure in spades. As I wrote last year, it's one of the sexiest wines in the vintage!
About the producer
Enclos Tourmaline is a single one-hectare plot situated on the Pomerol plateau next to Château Clinet and Château Feytit-Clinet. Before being bought by Peter Kwok in 2012, the vineyard was part of the Château La Patache property.