Vines first went into the ground at Clinet in 1758, making it one of Pomerol’s oldest estates. By the early nineteenth century, with vineyards proliferating, Clinet was regarded as one of the very best. Fast forward to the late 1970s, when Estate Manager Jean-Michel Arcaute arrived here. In his determination to restore Clinet to its nineteenth century glory, he completely reformed vineyard practise here – and a lot of Bordeaux began to follow. In came leaf thinning and green harvesting. Out went machine harvesting, to ensure only the best grapes were picked. In an era when most vintages were quite a lot cooler than now, the focus moved to only picking fully ripe fruit, looking for ripe skins, ripe seeds and ripe stems. With consultant Michel Rolland at his side, he also increased the amount of new oak the wine was raised in.

Jean-Louis Laborde bought Clinet in 1998, and things really began to change again when his son Ronan Laborde began to manage the estate in 2004. He cut back on the new oak, and increased the yields, reacting against an era in which Clinet had become too concentrated. Pomerol is a hard (and ruinously expensive) place to buy vineyards, but Laborde has managed to expand Clinet with the purchase of some neighbouring plots.

The vineyard is planed to 88% Merlot/11.5% Cabernet Sauvignon/0.5% Cabernet Franc. The soils are on deep clay, gravel (which supports the Cabernet Sauvignon) and iron-rich sandy soils. Younger vines are planted at higher density, to make them compete more with their neighbours, but Clinet also has some of the oldest vines in the appellation, planted in 1934, on a parcel called ‘La Grand Vigne’ close to the church. At 20% of their total vineyard, this is a significant part of the total and is very much considered the heart of the wine. (NT 13/08/25)