Château La Clotte 2018

Located at the entrance to the town of Saint-Émilion, with a historical watchtower in the midst of its vines, Château La Clotte is one of the most beautiful sites on the Right Bank.  It is situated on the prime land of Saint-Émilion - the limestone plateau.  The word clotte means grotto in the Gascon language.  It refers to the impressive underground limestone cellars located underneath the estate.  Before wine made Saint-Émilion famous, it was better known as a source of limestone used for building mansions.  If one is impressed by the beautiful sight of chateaux built with limestone extracted from underground, it would be an equally impressive sight if one has the chance to step into the caves that are still underneath Saint-Émilion today.  For the caves to be usable as cellars, access through natural openings to above-ground is essential as the caves tend to have excessively high levels of humidity.  Few chateaux are endowed with that feature.  La Clotte is fortunate to be one of them.

Château La Clotte dates its history back to 1886, when the Marquis Gaston de Grailly created the estate from vines that his family has owned since 1747.  The Grailly family is related to the Becot family, the owner of Château Beau-Séjour Bécot (another estate with impressive underground limestone cellars).  In 1913, the property was sold to the Chailleau-Moulierac family.  The estate was known as La Clotte de Grailly until 1949, when the name of the original owner was dropped.  In mid-1960s, the Chailleau-Moulierac family granted exclusive distribution rights to Ets JP Moueix (the negociant behind famed Petrus), about the same time when Petrus saw its price skyrochet under a similar exclusivity arrangement.  In 1989, unconvinced their wine was getting the best result, the Chailleau family decided to take matters into their own hands and ended the exclusivity contract.  For many years, Nelly Moulierac led the improvement of quality and presence of La Clotte in fine wine market.  In 2014, the Vauthier family (owner of Château Ausone) acquired La Clotte as it sits really near Ausone's own vineyard.  A leisurely stroll from one house to the other takes only 9 minutes, the vineyards are practically next to each other.

Château La Clotte is a small property, with 3 heactares under vine out of 4 heactares of land. On average, it produces 1,500 cases each year.  Today, La Clotte is run by Alain Vauthier and his daughter, Pauline.  She is also the winemaker at Château Ausone.  2015 was the inaugural vintage under the Vauthier ownership.

"The 2018 La Clotte represents another big move forward for this château under the Vauthier family. Bright, focused and tightly wound, the 2018 is going to need at least a few years to soften, but its pedigree is evident, even in the early going. Sage, mint, lavender, rose petal and blood orange meld into the vibrant, polished finish."- Antonio Galloni, Vinous, (03/31/2021), Ratings: 95, Drink: 2026-2043

"This property is owned and managed by the Vauthier family of Château Ausone. The 2018 La Clotte is made up of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Deep purple-black in color, it leaps from the glass with gregarious scents of crushed blueberries, Morello cherries and black raspberries with touches of oolong tea, violets, mocha and cigar box plus a waft of cedar. Full-bodied with a solid frame of fine-grained tannins and oodles of freshness, it is packed with vibrant black and blue fruits layers, finishing long with great purity." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate, (04/23/2019), Ratings: 93-95+

"From an estate purchased by Ausone in 2014, the 2018 Château La Clotte looks to be a sensational wine in the making, and I think it’s probably going to surpass both the 2015 and 2016. A blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc, this deeply colored Saint-Émilion offers a smoky, blackcurrant, black cherry, and graphite-driven bouquet. This carries to a medium to full-bodied red that has a stacked mid-palate, tons of ripe, sexy fruit, building tannins, and a great finish. It’s a brilliant Saint-Émilion that’s going to need short-term cellaring but will cruise in cool cellars for two decades or more." - Jeb Dunnuck, (05/01/2019), Ratings: 94-96+

"The 2018 La Clotte has a vibrant, expressive bouquet, a mixture of black and red fruit, violets, incense and background marine scents that are all beautifully delineated and gain intensity with aeration (this bottle was monitored over 2–3 hours). The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins and a fine bead of acidity, paradoxically exerting weight but feeling nimble and pliant. There is some new oak to be assimilated toward the finish, so give this La Clotte 4–5 years to fully meld together, because it will be worth the wait." - Neal Martin, Vinous, (03/12/2021), Ratings: 94