2025 Clos Fourtet (St-Emilion)

The 2025 Clos Fourtet is elegant, polished and super refined. Bracing mineral notes cut through a core of dark red and blue-toned fruit. Spice, mocha, new leather and licorice all meld together. Seamless and profoundly elegant, the 2025 impresses with its sensual personality, soft contours and magnificent balance. Time in the glass brings out touches of blood orange and white pepper that lend explosive brilliance through to the gorgeous, sustained finish. The team opted for cool fermentations in the cellar. Most lots saw 21-26 days on skins, which is on the shorter side. Clos Fourtet has recently shifted to doing malolactic fermentation in tank instead of in barrel, which has naturally lowered the wines` oak imprint, highlighted fruit purity and softened their contours. The 2025 is positively stellar. Tasted two times. Grand Vin. 96-98 points

Unfurling in the glass with notes of dark berries, plum and kirsch mingled with hints of iris and anise, the 2025 Clos Fourtet is full-bodied, ample and layered, with a multidimensional textural profile, tangy acids and a long and penetrating finish. To moderate extraction, fermentations were kept cool, at around 24 degrees Celsius, with only punching down. It`s a blend of 84% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. 94-96 points

Fragrant, intense and vivid opening, rose bud, violet flowers, intense and chalky. These are powerful tannins, chalk, pumice stone, a slow and gentle build through the palate, every time you think it is done it just gives a little bit more. Concentrated, elegant, savoury and just so tasty. 3.4pH. Harvest September 8 to 22. 40% new oak. 97 points

The 2025 Clos Fourtet was picked between September 9 and 22, the second earliest after 2003, with a yield of 28 hl/ha. It underwent a lighter extraction at a slightly lower temperature, 24C, during natural fermentation. It has a bright nose, a mélange of red and black fruit, orange rind and touches of crushed stone emanating from the limestone. The palate is medium-bodied, with succulent ripe tannins, leaning more towards red fruit on the mid-palate. Subtle touches of graphite and white pepper emerge towards the citrus-fresh finish, with commendable length, gentle grip and satisfying sustain. This is a great Clos Fourtet that should age well in bottle. 94-96 points