Château Quinault L'Enclos 2016

Château Quinault l’Enclos is a property that has undergone a bit of a transformation since 2008.  Though the wines were perfectly respectable in the late ‘90s and highly ranked by critics, much of the changes stem from the transition of leadership at the property.  Earlier wines were crafted by the well-respected Alain Reynaud, who worked at legendary Left Bank properties such as Château Lascombes.  Once Alain Reynaud sold Château Quinault l’Enclos to the owners of Château Cheval Blanc, Bernard Arnault and Albert Frere, the style shifted.  The modern wines of Château Quinault l’Enclos are not the fruit-forward wines of the past.   Instead, they are distinctively fresh with a pulsing minerality and loads of complexity.  With pricing in the $30.00 range, these wines are a tremendous value for those who want an updated, lively wine that expresses what Saint-Émilion terroir has to offer.

Château Quinault l’Enclos is located in Saint-Émilion, near the city of Libourne.  Interestingly enough, the property was not considered to be within the Saint-Émilion appellation, rather within the satellite appellation of Sables Saint-Émilion.  In 1973 it was considered to be part of the Right Bank appellation, just a couple decades prior to it being purchased by Alain Reynaud.  Alain Reynaud made some sweeping changes to the vineyard, such changing mechanical harvesting to harvesting the property by hand.  The vintages of Château Quinault l’Enclos began to climb slowly up the ranks in terms of critical acclaim and scores.  Eventually, it attracted the attention of the second-to-none Right Bank producer Château Cheval Blanc.  Once the team of Château Cheval Blanc took over managing the estate in 2008, other changes were made such as removing the Malbec growing there.  The focus of the viticultural team at Château Cheval Blanc is to ensure the wine has a level of unparalleled purity and freshness.  Pierre Lurton, famous for running esteemed properties like Château d’Yquem in addition to Château Cheval Blanc, oversees much of the operations on the vineyard.   

Under Lurton’s leadership, the property switched over to Organic farming.  In 2012, they earned their certification for being completely 100% Organic in terms of their farming practices.  In 2014, Château Quinault l’Enclos also began to include Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend for the first time.  The property is planted in one single parcel, which is unusual considering the vineyard is approximately 20-hectares.  Château Quinault l’Enclos has a warmer microclimate than a lot of the Right Bank region, and in accordance with that they often harvest a bit earlier than other properties.  The reason they do this is to avoid producing a jammy, overripe sort of wine.  The grapes are vinified in wood vats, and the wine is aged in 50% new French oak barrels for up to 18 months. 

Château Quinault l’Enclos is best enjoyed within the first 10 to 12 years after it is bottled.  In its earlier years, the wine is pure, fresh, and light on oak.  Younger vintages should be decanted for an hour - give or take - in order for the wine to express its subtle aromatic qualities. 

"This was the first vintage that technical director Pierre-Olivier Clouet started to exclusively use 500-liter barrels for Quinault l'Enclos, decreasing the surface area to which the wines are exposed and, ultimately, the impact of the oak. The percentage of new oak is around 50%, and the blend is 68% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Quinault l'Enclos opens with expressive redcurrants, black raspberries and black cherries scents with savory suggestions of tapenade, dried herbs and tobacco plus a waft of cloves. Medium-bodied, the palate is fantastically bright and lively with loads of red fruit accents and a firm frame of grainy tannins, finishing on an earthy note." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (11/30/18, Interim Issue), Ratings: 93, Drink: 2021-2045

"The 2016 Quinault l'Enclos is a blend of 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 68% Merlot, continuing the team's program of increasing the proportion of Cabernet, picked from 20 September and finishing on 7 October. It is matured in 50% new oak (500-liter barrels) and one-year-old barrels. It has a very pure bouquet with macerated black cherries, a touch of blueberry, a subtle flinty note just tucked underneath. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin on the entry. This feels very fresh and lively in the mouth, perhaps a little more compact than others I tasted, although that is probably because it had been taken from barrel less than an hour before my visit. It is very precise on the brisk, punctual graphite-tinged finish, an almost clinical Quinault l'Enclos that will benefit from five or six year aging in bottle." - Neal Martin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (4/28/17, Issue 230), Ratings: 91-93, Drink: 2023-2045