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2020 Château Pape-Clement Blanc

Removed from a temperature and humidity controlled wine cellar

Ends Sunday, 7pm Pacific

RATINGS

100Jeb Dunnuck

This beauty stopped me in my tracks and offers a massive nose of honeyed limes, white flowers, tropical fruit, crushed stone, and orange marmalade. With the vintage’s vibrant sense of freshness, full-bodied richness, a stacked mid-palate, and a fabulous mouthfeel, this truly sensational white is an incredible achievement, and hats off to the team at Pape Clement!

97James Suckling

...sliced cooked apple, lemon and light toffee character. Candied pineapple. Hints of meringue. Full-bodied and layered. Really delicious and flavorful now with a solid balance of phenolic structure.

96Wine Spectator

...featuring long tarragon and thyme threads that pull gooseberry, star fruit and white peach notes along. Offers lots of energy through the finish, which ripples with sel gris and oyster shell echoes offset by a hint of salted butter.

94Vinous / IWC

...bright nose with scents of orchard fruit, orange pith and lime cordial scents, well defined and focused...palate is fresh and mineral-driven, quite taut, much less oaky than other vintages and displaying more terroir towards the finish.

93The Wine Advocate

Offering up notes of crisp nectarine, lemongrass and white flowers, the 2020 Pape Clément Blanc is medium to full-bodied, satiny and seamless, with bright acids, attractive purity of fruit and a long, aromatic finish.

16.5Jancis Robinson

Grassy Sauvignon nose. A touch floral. Rounded and generous in the mouth. Creamy, gentle. Subtle but long.

PRODUCER

Château Pape-Clement

Château Pape-Clement is a 74-acre estate in Pessac. It is a Grand Cru of the Graves classification. The château is named after Pope Clement V, the 14th-century French pope who caused a major upheaval in the Catholic church when he briefly moved the papacy to Avignon. After the French Revolution the estate was sold to private owners. The vineyards were destroyed in 1939 by a hailstorm. A local agricultural engineer, Paul Montaigne, bought it and restored the vineyards. Today it is owned and operated by Bernard Magrez, who is Montaigne’s heir. The vineyards are planted to 58% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42% Merlot. About 45,000 bottles are produced annually. The second wine is Clementin du Pape Clement. Robert M. Parker Jr. has called Pape-Clement “one of the quintessentially elegant, complex, and most distinctive wines of Bordeaux.”

REGION

France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

Pessac-Léognan was created in 1987 from the northern part of the left bank Graves appellation. Before then it was simply part of Graves, or sometimes it was called Haut-Graves. Unlike many other Bordeaux appellations, Pessac-Léognan is known for both red and dry white wines, although its reds are more famous. The appellation includes ten communes and the area’s most important châteaux, including Château Haut-Brion, the only non-Médoc estate included in the 1855 Bordeaux classification. There are 2,964 acres of vineyards in Pessac-Léognan and 16 classified growth estates. The main red grapes grown are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, along with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. White grapes grown are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, with a little Muscadelle. Pessac-Léognan is considered to have the best terroir of the greater Graves region.

VINTAGE

2020 Château Pape-Clement Blanc