2020 Château La Clotte has released this morning at the favourable price of £280 per 6 bottle case in bond.
This compares well with the release prices of the following recent vintages (source : Liv-ex.com)
2019 - £300/6 in bond
2018 - £290/6 in bond
2017 - £280/6 in bond
2016 - £285/6 in bond
We have followed this Château over the last few vintages and been very impressed. We haven’t tasted the recent release, but I feel confident in offering this vintage, nonetheless. This is a property on the up, offered at a good price, and therefore the value on offer is strong.
For reference, I have included below my background comments from last year.
The Vauthiers of Château Ausone, comfortably one of the greatest estates in Bordeaux, are working their magic on this well-sited, four-hectare Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé. Château La Clotte occupies a superb location at the very heart of Saint-Emilion’s limestone plateau, a short stroll from the centre of Saint-Emilion itself. It had long been considered an underperforming Château, but that all changed when the Vauthiers bought the majority share in 2014. Since then they have gradually adjusted the approach in the vineyard and refined the winemaking. Without doubt, Pauline Vauthier has been the driving force behind the rejuvenation of La Clotte, a property with which she clearly has an affinity.
I often stress that the entire Ausone stable of wines rank highly for their respective quality levels in almost every vintage we taste…There is an unerring consistency to the Vauthier wines, which possess stunning fruit expression and fine balance. At the risk of repeating myself, the quality is too high for this Château to remain underappreciated.
James Lawther of jancisrobinson.com and Jane Anson of decanter.com are two of the few critics to have reviewed the wine, I include their scores and notes below: