CLOS FOURTET

Clos Fourtet is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty in 2015. Powerful, vivid and wonderfully nuanced, it exudes class. Inky red/purplish stone fruit, lavender, spice, mint and orange peel give the 2015 its myriad shades of nuance, but it is the wine's balance and total sense of harmony that elevate it to the realm of the profound. In 2015, Clos Fourtet has a bit more body and resonance than is typically the case. Beneath all of the fruit, however, the 2015 has more than enough energy and structural underpinning to drink well for many years. This is a stunning wine from the Cuvelier family and consulting winemakers Stéphane Derenoncourt and Julien Lavenu. The blend is 88% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. Tasted three times. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)

The Cabernet Sauvignon is always a key feature of this wine, and it’s the case again here in 2015, providing structure and backbone. This is a little closed, but has the intensity, limestone-derived freshness and sheer class to age well in bottle. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 94 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)

A Stéphane Derenoncourt wine. Lively and fresh on the nose. Great balance and fruit. Dry on the end but very classic. Drinking range: 2024 - 2036 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)

Reticent nose but fragrant palate. Supple texture with plentiful but fine tannins. Length and freshness on the finish – the stamp of the limestone terroir evident. Persistent. Drinking range: 2023 - 2040 Rating: 93 James Lawther MW, decanter.com (Apr 2016)

The 2015 Clos Fourtet is unusually rich and sumptuous in this vintage. Exotic aromatics, a huge core of fruit and ample, soft contours give the 2015 much of its striking personality. Although quite racy and unctuous today, the 2015 is going to need a number of years to shed its baby fat before it is even close to showing all it has to offer. This is a compelling effort from the Cuvelier family and consulting winemakers Stéphane Derenoncourt and Julien Lavenu. The blend is 88% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. Rating: 93-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)

A very pure, fresh but confident nose here, showing some rather roasted dark fruits, with a desiccated concentration, dried black cherry skins, dark and rather smoky. The palate seems remarkably restrained when tasted against many of its peers, which are more plush and exuberant. This feels more considered, still warmly textured of course, still a little plush in keeping with the vintage, still brimming with ripe tannins, with a charcoaly edge. But there is a lifted, perfumed fruit character to it. This is fresh, rather grippy, polished, with a dark, charcoal-tinged finish, warm and broad. A very dark and confident style here. The alcohol is said to be 14.5%, while on tasting I would have thought it a little lower, a good example of how the wines of this vintage seem to carry relatively higher alcohol levels very well. Wonderful potential. Rating: 17-18/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)

Enticing, with raspberry, plum and boysenberry fruit taking hold from the start, followed by lively spice and black tea notes. The finish is threaded with a fine chalky spine. Focused and refined. Rating: 94—97 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)