CHÂTEAU NÉNIN
2017 Pomerol
The 2017 Nénin contains more Cabernet Franc this year because of the frost damage. The grapes were picked from 12 to 29 September although the team did go back to inspect the second generation frosted vines two weeks later but the tannins were unsatisfactory and the fruit abandoned. This means that the overall production was just 15.5hl/ha, matured in 35% new oak with the alcohol at 13.50°. The nose is fairly uncomplicated compared to the last two vintages: red fruit, briary and a touch of desiccated orange peel. The palate is medium-bodied with soft tannin, moderate depth, gentle in the mouth but missing a little structure towards the airy finish. It is a decent, early-drinking Nénin in the making although it lags behind the previous two vintages. Drinking range: 2022 - 2035 Rating: 89-91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2018)
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The 2017 Nenin is deep garnet-purple in color and has quite an earthy nose of tar, black soil and fungi notions over a core of cassis and black plums. The palate is medium-bodied, firm and chewy with a racy line and grippy finish. Rating: 87-89 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Apr 2018)
Based on 58% Merlot and 42% Cabernet Franc, brought up in 35% new French oak, the 2017 Château Nenin sports a healthy purple color as well as classic sweet cherry and currant fruits, tobacco leaf, and loamy earth. It’s rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, with a rounded, sexy texture. It will keep for 10-15 years. Rating: 89-92 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Apr 2018)
42% Cabernet Franc, 58% Merlot. A little more Cabernet Franc than usual because the lower parts of Nénin were frosted. 35% new oak. Very dark with purple crimson. Lifted, lightly floral aroma and a charming dusty overlay. Quite dark on the palate, savoury and dark-fruited but also scented on the mid palate. Oak is well integrated. Creamy texture, elegant and beautifully balanced. Juicy finish and good freshness and length. Drinking range: 2025 - 2035 Rating: 17 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2018)
Round, polished and fleshy in feel, with good underlying acidity that lets the cassis, plum sauce and raspberry fruit play out. Light anise and singed vanilla shadings show on the finish, with a little latent grip. Rating: 90-93 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2018)
A creamy wine with a solid core of fruit and firm and silky tannins. Lots mineral and crushed-stone character. Full-bodied, rich and structured. Orange rind on the aftertaste. Less than 50% of the normal production. Solid finish. Rating: 93-94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2018)
The vines at Nenin surround the château, but they also run up onto the plateau, and these higher vines were spared during the spring frost. Even so, they lost 70% of the crop here, says Pierre Graffeuille, managing director of the Delon domaines. Up on the plateau some Merlot was hit, so as a result the grand vin has more Cabernet Franc than is usual this year, at 42% (the norm is more like 25% to 33%), with 58% Merlot. The first-generation fruit was picked from the 12th until the 29th of September, while second-generation fruit from the frosted vines was picked between the 6th and the 12th of October. In the end, however, both this wine, and the second wine (not tasted here) utilise the first-generation fruit, the wine from the frosted vines deemed inadequate for either. The yield was 35-36 hl/ha on the parcels used for the grand vin, but 15.5 hl/ha for the whole domaine, the frosted vines having given just 2 hl/ha. The alcohol is 13.5%, acidity 3.43 g/l and IPT 70. The fruit was vinified parcel-by-parcel, using tiny cuves starting at just 4 hectolitres. Aromatically this is very precise, with very dark fruit character on the nose, tinged with violets, pencil shavings and smoke. The palate has a cool, plum-cream, soot and violet presence, the flavours set in a bed of fresh, composed and rather succulent texture, with some very ripe, soft and velvety tannins. Overall this has a very fine structure, with some pretty grip in the finish and length. This is surely one of the better examples of Château Nenin I have tasted in recent times, the estate clearly on an upward roll over the last three or four vintages. Rating: 91-93 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2018)
Château Nénin
Two things make Château Nenin standout from the rest of Pomerol – at 32ha it is considerably larger than most in in this crowded appellation; and Nenin has a real bona fide 19th Century château at its core rather than the more usual small shed. Infact it appears more along the lines of something one might find in the Haut-Médoc which is perhaps fitting as, since 1987, it has been in common ownership with Château Potensac and the great Saint Julien estate of Château Leoville Las Cases. As one might expect with such a noble stable-mate, quality has advanced rapidly in line with a lot of healthy investment in the estate. The vineyards are planted with 78% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon with an average age of around 30 years. The second wine is Fugue de Nenin.