Pape Clément 2008

One of the top successes of the vintage, this blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot was harvested between October 8 and 24. The late harvest ensured perfect ripeness as evidenced by the sweet bouquet of black cherries, lead pencil shavings, cassis and subtle barbecue smoke. Well-balanced with good acidity, ripe tannins, medium to full body and a layered mouthfeel, this excellent 2008 can be drunk now and over the next 15+ years.

The 2008 Pape Clément has a perfumed bouquet with blackberry, boysenberry, pencil lead and black olive scents, just a subtle estuarine element coming through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a fine bead of acidity, quite dense and muscular but retaining delineation. My one quibble is that the oak just feels a little too conspicuous towards the finish, so give it another 4 to 5 years. 2022 - 2035

Very dark purple. Unusually ripe purple berry aromas. Very sweet and luscious and not especially bordeaux but capable of giving lots of pleasure. Fine, dry tannins. Difficult stylistic question, rating this wine. It's almost more right bank than Graves but so long as you know that in advance and aren't expecting a classic refreshing Graves, you could find it rewarding.

Not far off the quality of the monumental 2005, Pape Clement's 2008 was cropped at a lowly 30 hectoliters per hectare. The final blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, and there are approximately 7,500 cases. The 2008 displays a dense purple color as well as a classic northern Pessac-Leognan nose of truffles, asphalt, scorched earth, charcoal, creme de cassis, spice box, and spring flowers. Super-pure and medium to full-bodied with stunning concentration, admirable purity, slightly more acidity than usual, and formidable depth and length, given the sweetness of the tannins and the ripeness of the fruit, this wine should be approachable in 4-5 years, but the vintage's crisp style suggests it will last for 25-30 or more years.The flagship estate of one of the most remarkable men in France, Bernard Magrez, it counts Michel Rolland as their guru-in-chief. The viticultural work is meticulous, with de-leafing and crop-thinning, all the grapes are hand-harvested in small plastic crates, and are destemmed by hand by more than 200 people - unheard of anywhere else in Bordeaux. The wine receives a Burgundian-like punch-down treatment, a month-long maceration, and the wine is moved by gravity (rather than traumatic pumps) through all the different steps of winemaking. It is aged on its lees for nearly a year. For over a decade now, the result has been one of the greatest wines of Bordeaux, clearly a wine of first-growth quality.