Clos Romanile 2016

Clos Romanile is a passion project helmed by Remi Dalmasso, the cellar master at Château Valandraud. 

For those unfamiliar, Château Valandraud is a renegade Saint-Émilion Premiere Grand Crus Classés Class B estate that marches to the beat of its own drum yet has enough clout to place it among the ranks of giants like Château Figeac.  It is run by the Bad Boy of Saint-Émilion, none other than Jean Luc Thunevin and his talented wife, Murielle Andraud.  Jean Luc and Murielle had more than their fair share of opinions about winemaking and pioneered the garagiste movement. This movement favors small production winemaking with lower yields, creating bold, fruity, and concentrated wines that took the world by storm.  Clos Romanile is one of the wines that exemplifies the many facets of this movement, with its bountiful fruit qualities intermingled with powerful tannins and microscopic production size.  It is a rare wine indeed, with production at 1,000 bottles: a true find from the Right Bank.  

In 2004, Remi Dalmasso wanted a label of his own.  At the encouragement of Jean Luc, he planted some vines around his house.  Situated on an under 1 hectare plot in a space approximately a fifteen minutes’ walk from the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru property owned by  the von Neipperg family, Clos de l’Oratoire.  At Clos Romanile, the terroir is a mixture of clay and limestone, and the 30 year old vines of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon thrive here.  The climate at Clos Romanile is a bit cooler than the other portions of the Right Bank, so the grapes have plenty of balance and acidity, yielding earthy and restrained wines.  The vines are planted at a high density which is unusual for the Right Bank, and the vineyard is farmed organically.

Because Clos Romanile is such a small production wine, Remi Dalmasso is able to diligently tend to his vines and have plenty of creative control over the vinification process.  The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vines are harvested by hand prior to being micro-vinified in the cellar at Château Valandraud.  Jean Luc Thunevin consults on the winemaking and vineyard management for Clos Romanile and the wine is subjected to very rigorous quality control.  To ensure only the choicest wine goes into the grand vin, Clos Romanile has a Second Wine – Galaxies 2 Romanile.  True to the spirit of the garagiste movement, Remi ages his wine in 100% French oak barrels stored behind his garage.

Clos Romanile needs some time to come into its own prior to being enjoyed, as the wine is fairly tannic during the initial release.  Because it is such a small production wine, it is a very rare find and a bit of an insider’s wine.  This relatively obscure hidden gem is still priced fairly reasonably, considering the talent behind the creation of each vintage.  Though Clos Romanile is among the younger estates, the trajectory for this relatively unknown garagiste property is quite exciting, as scores continue to increase each year.  We look forward to seeing what the future holds for this undiscovered treasure of a property.

"Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Clos Romanile offers warm redcurrants, blackberry compote and stewed plums with hints of dried herbs, damp soil and underbrush. Medium-bodied, it has a nice core of vibrant black fruit with soft, rounded tannins and a lively backbone, finishing with an herbal lift." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (11/30/2018, Interim Issue), Rating: 90, Drink from: 2019-2030 

"Valandraud’s winemaker’s wine. Only 2,000 bottles. Merlot with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich, ripe and modern. Suave attack but fresh and firmly structured. Needs time to open." - Decanter Magazine