2000 Chateau La Clussiere St. Emilion

2000 Chateau La Clusiere, St. Emilion

Chateau La Clusiere was a tiny, now-defunct Saint-Emilion estate owned by Gerard Perse, also proprietor of neighboring Chateau Pavie. Set between Pavie Decesse and Pavie, the vineyard covered barely two and a half hectares and made wine for only a handful of vintages before being folded into Pavie in 2002. The 2000 is widely regarded as its finest, final achievement.

The vineyard was planted entirely to Merlot on old vines averaging around fifty years of age, rooted in clay and limestone soil closely related to that of Pavie. Yields were kept remarkably low, close to fifteen hectoliters per hectare, concentrating flavor in the small crop harvested each year. The wine aged for roughly twenty-four months in one hundred percent new French oak. Total production of the 2000 amounted to only a few hundred cases worldwide, making surviving bottles genuinely scarce.

This wine pours a deep, opaque color and opens with aromas of cassis, blueberry liqueur, licorice and graphite, layered with vanilla and dark chocolate. The palate is rich and seamless, full-bodied yet elegant, with tannin still supporting the fruit. Pair it with roasted lamb, braised beef or a well-aged hard cheese.