"Aromas of rich cherries, cassis, burning embers, violets and dark chocolate introduce the 2020 Pape Clément, a medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy wine that's ripe, layered and generously extracted but also a touch deeper and more reserved than the flashy 2019. While it would be an exaggeration to say that this estate's red wines are making much of a shift in the direction of restraint, the style is certainly less aspirational than it was a decade ago."
Wine Advocate 94+
Known to be one of the oldest Bordeaux Grands Crus, the estate’s vineyard was established by Bertrand de Goth, who in 1305 became Pope Clément V, the name which was subsequently given to the Château. The first harvest there took place in 1252, laying the foundations for an outstanding cultural heritage. It was in 1980 that Bernard Magrez acquired the estate. Since then, he has endeavoured to pay his respects to it daily and to glorify this magnificent property which has witnessed part of France’s history.
Located in Pessac, Château Pape Clément belongs to the Pessac-Léognan appellation contrôlée and the wider Graves wine region. Containing exceptional soils, the estate’s superb terroir creates a synergy between passion and work. Each plot, vine and grape is carefully tended according to vine-growing tenets developed over centuries.
This terroir stretches over three plots surrounding the Château and benefits from both ancestral savoir-faire and cutting-edge technology. In enhancing it but also respecting it, we seek to ensure that it continues to offer us its purest quintessential qualities.
The most stringent pruning and de-leafing are carried out, while animal traction is used in the vineyard rows. De-stemming of the bunches is done by hand, followed by the most rigorous vinification and ageing processes.
The degree of care and attention lavished on the vineyards of this Grand Cru is quite simply extraordinary. On tasting, the wine offers a whirlwind of exquisite flavours in which smoothness of texture and finesse intermingle harmoniously.
In its superb array of aromatics, the wine reveals an expressive, complex nose and a clean, round and smooth attack on the palate. All the beauty of a Grand Cru expressed with sheer elegance.