Taking its name, appropriately enough, from Saint Martin, the Patron Saint of winegrowers, Clos Saint-Martin wines are renowned for their sensuous, opulent style - all lush, fruit-driven flavours and silken textures. This is embodied particularly beautifully in arguably the finest wine the estate has ever produced - the notoriously difficult to find 2005 Clos Saint-Martin.
The winery dates back to the early 1800s and most recently changed hands in 2013, coming under the ownership of the Cuvelier family, who also own Clos Fourtet. Managed under the partnership of Michel Rolland, the evolution of Clos Saint-Martin continues to unfold in the most interesting (and delectable!) of ways.
"Deep garnet-purple coloured, the 2017 Clos St. Martin delivers impressively intense crushed blackberries and cassis notes with underlying espresso, cigar box and pencil shavings notes. Medium-bodied, finely crafted and elegant in the mouth, the vibrant fruit is well-framed by fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering mineral note."
91-93 points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW
"The 2017 Clos Saint-Martin is unusually sumptuous and powerful, with generous black cherry, chocolate, licorice, plum, menthol and tobacco notes that fill out effortlessly. The 2017 has quite a bit of promise, but it is also going to need time to shed some baby fat and be at its best. This is an impressive showing from proprietor Sophie Fourcade."
90-93 points, Antonio Galloni
"This is a solid 2017 with firm and silky tannins, a medium body and a juicy and fruity finish. Show an umami undertone."
92-93 points, James Suckling
St.-Émilion is the star of Bordeaux’s Right Bank, north of the Dordogne River. The rich red wines produced in St.-Émilion, based on Merlot and Cabernet Franc, are less tannic and generally more fruit-driven in flavour than the Cabernet-based wines of Left Bank. Merlot thrives on the plateaus high above the Dordogne, where the soil is filled with sand and clay, a perfect medium for creating opulent, fruit-forward wines. With a typically savoury character, St.-Émilion wines are sometimes called the “Burgundies of Bordeaux.” These refined reds, with loads of finesse, are elegant companions to beef, chicken, pork and duck.
The wines of St.-Émilion were not included in the famous 1855 classification of Bordeaux, which ranked wines of the Left Bank. In 1955, St.-Émilion published its own classification, based on soil analysis, wine quality and reputation of the properties. Unlike the 1855 classification, St.-Emilion’s system requires properties to continuously prove themselves. The list is revised regularly, most recently in 2012. There are two tiers within the classification, Premier Grand Cru Classé and Grand Cru Classé. There are currently just 18 Premier Grand Cru properties and 64 Grand Cru Classé properties.
The St.-Émilion appellation is home to hundreds of individual producers, enhancing the variety of wines made there. Many of the properties remain small, family-run enterprises, unlike the large châteaux of the Left Bank. The area is also the base of France’s controversial micro-châteaux or garagiste wine movement; these innovative winemakers operate outside the traditional classification system, making very high quality (and very expensive) highly extracted wines.
