Source: 194, Wine Advocate; Issue Date: 2nd May 2011 (RP-91)

Surprisingly evolved and complex already, this wine is even more powerful than the 2010. Reaching 14.5% natural alcohol, the vines were cropped at an astonishingly low 20 hectoliters per hectare. A final blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc, this wine is dense and rich, with a dark purple color, loads of creosote, camphor, black raspberry and blueberry fruit, as well as hints of sweet cherry and toasty oak. Lush, pure, full-bodied and intense, this is a stunning sleeper of the vintage, much like the 2010. It is capable of lasting at least a decade.
Drink Date: 2011 – 2021

Source: jamessuckling.com. Issue Date: December 19, 2010 (JS-90)

Very bright and clean with beautiful fruit such as cherry and raspberry. Full and fruity with fine tannins. A little chewy. Needs about two or three years to soften.

Source: Winemaker,

Appellation: Castillon – Cotes de Bordeaux
Location: Saint-Magne de Castillon
Area under vine: 8,5 hectares
Grape varieties: 80% merlot, 10% cabernet franc, 10% cabernet sauvignon
Annual production: 21 600 bottles
Geological characteristics: The Sainte Colombe plateau, the highest point in the Cotes de Castillon, is an extension of the Saint-Emilion limestone plateau, and shares the same essential characteristics. Clos Lunelles is just a few kilometers (as the crow flies) from Chateau Pavie.
Viticulture: Green harvesting, with an initial leaf thinning on the eastern side of the vines in late June and a second in mid-August on the western side.
Vinification: The grapes are picked and sorted by hand, and alcoholic fermentation is triggered by indigenous yeast in temperature-controlled vats. The wine stays on the skins for 5 weeks. Malolactic fermentation in barrel.
Clos Lunelles is aged in new oak barrels for 18 to 24 months with racking avery 3 months. The final bend is made just before bottling, without fining or filtering.

Tasting Notes:
Visually, the wine is densely, intensely, very opaquely purple. The aromas explode with black fruit?black currant, cherries; rich, creamy, toasty notes of new wood are also present. In the mouth the texture is powerful and imposing, with still-tight tannins that remain slightly dry but will improve with age. The wine is still firm, with a generous length which rounds out the finish. With aging, the wine should develop a full, rich style which may retain a somewhat edgy character.