Appellations

Pape Clement 2021

Pessac-Leognan, Grand Cru Classé

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Tasting Notes

Enjoyable in bottle, restrained and elegant with finesse and balance, impressive blackberry, loganberry, liqourice, cocoa bean, crayon and pencil lead, savoury and juicy. Pushing the extraction a little but it works because there is plenty of fruit underneath. 90% French oak barrels, 10% large oak casks for ageing. Can age, but has a suppleness that means I would not worry about waiting too long.

Score: 93 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2026-2038 Date: 21 February 2024

Ridiculously heavy bottle! Not much nose. Thick palate that almost seems to be fizzing. Then nothing much on the pinched finish. There seems to have been a (rather unsuccessful) attempt at concentration which has left an unbalanced wine with a hole in the middle.

Score: 15 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2027-2040 Date: 06 May 2022

The 2021 Pape Clément is a tightly wound, reticent wine. A core of bright red-toned fruit lies behind a wall of tannin and acids that is pretty impenetrable at this stage. I imagine the 2021 will come around at some point, but it is pretty austere in the early going. Tasted four times.

Score: 92 - 94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2031-2061 Date: 01 May 2022

The 2021 Pape Clément was picked from 28 September until 14 October matured for a planned 18 months in 90% French oak and 10% in the foudres introduced in 2018. It is a completely diametrically opposite style to the previous vintages, partly a result of Michel Rolland handing the reins over to his right-hand man, Julien Vilaud, who has always had a different winemaking philosophy. On the nose: blackberry, sous-bois and cedar, not austere yet certainly a more reserved style. The palate is framed by quite gritty tannins, fine acidity, fresh and saline with modest depth on the finish that feels a little austere. Tasted several times, this is a fascinating, perhaps divisive Pape-Clément that might throw a few accustomed to its style of yore. One you have to get to really understand.

Score: 91 - 93 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2046 Date: 01 May 2022

Pape made a very finely crafted and elegant wine this vintage, with plenty of berry, spice and earth character. Medium-bodied. Savory and lightly spicy on the finish. Creamy tannins.

Score: 94 - 95 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Date: 01 May 2022

The 2021 Pape Clément exhibits notions of sweet berries and cherries mingled with rich aromas of espresso roast, black truffles, toasty new oak and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, deep and quite extracted in style, it's a rich, fleshy wine that gained in integration and harmony over the the three weeks I spent in Bordeaux. Tasted three times.

Score: 91 - 94 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Date: 29 April 2022

The 2021 Château Pape Clément, which was tasted on numerous occasions, is certainly one of the more mid-weight versions of this wine that I can remember. Giving up attractive cassis and currant fruits as well as tobacco and a kiss of graphite, it's medium-bodied, mid-weight, charming, and forward. I think it will be an outstanding wine, but we're a solid step off the top wines in the vintage.

Score: 91 - 93 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Date: 06 February 2022