Pape Clément 2016

Tasted blind. Freshness and lots of fruit. Neat and racy with lots of mineral excitement. Drink 2026 – 2042

Tasted on two separate occasions, the 2016 Château Pape Clément never failed to disappoint, offering a huge, powerful, full-bodied personality as well as beautiful notes of cassis, graphite, high-class cigar tobacco, asphalt, and graphite. About as sexy as it gets in the vintage, with silky tannins and loads of fruit, it’s perfectly balanced and has a great finish. The 2016 is a blend of 60% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, all raised in 60% new barrels. Drink 2022-2047.

Sweet ripe fruit the nose has depth the palate fleshy black fruits mid richness. Lighter at the back there is an underlying freshness the finish is quite tight and lacking a bit of length. 2025-38

This is the best young Pape-Clément I’ve tasted for a long time, partly thanks to the vintage conditions, which made it hard to produce ultra-ripe wines. The oak is better integrated, too, complementing the rich, glossy, spicy fruit flavours and refreshing acidity. 2022-30

The 2016 Pape Clement is a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon this year, picked from 30 September until 19 October at 48 hectoliters per hectare. The first bottle that I tasted with Bernard Magrez and his team felt a little overdone, but I had a strong suspicion that it was not a representative bottle. A second bottle was more restrained on the nose with blackberries, red plum, a touch of cloves and a light iodine influence. I love the delineation and detail here. The palate is medium-bodied with a graphite-infused entry, plenty of black fruit, saline in the mouth with great depth and cohesion on the long and tender finish. It continues Pape-Clement/Bernard Magrez' move towards a more classic style compared to the previous decade. Tasted four times, once as I mentioned, unnecessarily richer in style, but the other three consistent. Drink 2024-2050.

This is phenomenal with a density and finesse that are hard to remember for this wine. Full-bodied, tight and polished. Seamless texture and salty undertones. Goes on for minutes. Truly great. What a barrel sample.

Blended of 60% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Pape Clement has a deep garnet-purple color and quite a serious, earthy nose with truffles, tilled soil, underbrush and smoked meats over a cassis, baked plums and redcurrants core plus a touch of lavender. Medium to full-bodied, firm and grainy, the palate is built like a brick house, supporting muscular black fruit and earthy notions and finishing very long and mineral laced. Drink 2022-2042.

Very luscious nose with enormous opulence. Then on the palate there is no great sweetness but drying tannins on the finish. Something not quite fully ripe phenolically on the palate. Hint of greenness. Falls away on the end. It’s definitely front-loaded! Drink 2026-2040