2021 La Petite Eglise
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Tasting Notes
The 2021 La Petite Eglise is bright and nicely focused, with lovely energy to match its mid-weight personality. Sweet dark cherry, plum, cinnamon, leather, menthol, licorice and pipe tobacco come together in the glass. The 2021 is an easygoing Petite Eglise that will drink well with minimal cellaring. The Petite Eglise is all Merlot this year, now that a parcel of Franc that once was used for the blend has acquired the requisite age to be promoted into use for the Grand Vin.
Critic Scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2021 La Petite Eglise is made from 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, aging in 60% new oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, it needs a fair bit of swirling to unlock notes of fresh black plums, juicy blackberries, and Bing cherries, plus hints of licorice, dried Provence herbs, and Ceylon tea. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers mouth-coating, crunchy black fruits and great tension, with a grainy texture and long savory finish.
A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2021 La Petite Eglise opens in the glass with aromas of dark berries, licorice, loamy soil and black truffle. It's medium to full-bodied, concentrated and tensile, with terrific depth at the core and a long, saline finish,
In years like 2021, you look to estates at the level of Clos Fourtet as ports in a storm, and this delivers, if not entirely escaping the influence of the vintage - a real sign of the issues, as this is such a brilliant wine, able to circumnavigate so many obstacles. You are going to find finesse and mouth-watering salinity, marks of limestone and skill in the cellar, along with cool blue fruits and pumice-scrape salinity. It will fill out further during ageing, and will go the distance, but there is austerity here, and not the smile-inducing brilliance of a usual Clos Fourtet vintage. Tasted three times. A reasonable yield of 40hl/h (normal for the property) as its location again protected from frost. Clay-limestone soils. 50% new oak, 2% amphoras, saignée (for added concentration) on 20% of the vats.
About the producer
Ch. l'Eglise-Clinet is one of the most unassuming wine estates in Bordeaux. You'd probably drive past it if you didn't have prior knowledge of its vinous output. There's no ostentatious gateway nor sweeping gravel drive.