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Pape Clément Blanc 2016

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pessac-Léognan
ColourWhite
TypeStill
Grape VarietySauvignon Blanc/Semillon

The rare dry white wine of Chateau Pape Clement is made from around 50:50 Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle.

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Pape Clément

Label

Tasting Notes

The white Pape Clement 2016 wafts from the glass with scents of peaches, baked apples, and spice cake, followed by wet slate, cedar, and fresh ginger hints. Medium-bodied, the palate is understated, refreshing and youthful, finishing with a lingering quiet intensity that is quite compelling.

95
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, December 2022

The 2016 Pape Clément Blanc has a lighter bouquet than the Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, but it is still well defined and unfurls nicely in the glass to offer orange blossom, pineapple and light candle wax aromas. The palate is well balanced with a dab of ginger on the entry. There is a fine waxy texture here, hints of rhubarb and lemongrass furnishing a finish that just needs a little more persistence. Not bad at all. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2020 - 2030

91
Neal Martin, vinous.com, August 2020

High-end Pessac-Léognan can sometimes be too imposing to drink when it is young. But here, there’s such freshness to the melon, pear and white-peach aromas with hints of candied lemon and vanilla, that you can’t resist. Concentrated, but with a sleek silhouette, this moves extremely gracefully across the palate. The super-elegant finish has vibrancy that suggests very long aging potential. A blend of 48.5 per cent sauvignon blanc, 38.5 per cent semillon, 7.5 per cent sauvignon gris and 5.5 per cent muscadelle. Drink or hold.

95
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2019

Oak is still a big part of the story with Pape Clément's white wine, but the change comes in the introduction of a variety of barrel sizes and origins, including an increase in Burgundian barrels. They have wisely kept the signature round, citrus notes that long term fans of Pape Clément will be looking for, but as with the reds the overall feel is of a more sculpted, fragrant wine than in some previous vintages. To be honest, 2016 was not an easy vintage to dial things back, as the mid-palate can feel a touch hollow due to lacking the gripping minerality of the best vintages. But they have delivered an extremely successful wine, with rose and honeysuckle touches adding layers of complexity to the soft citrus flavours. Enjoyable.

Drinking Window 2018 - 2028

91
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, April 2017

Big, broad, but without quite enough zest and energy. A bit dead - picked too late? Sweet and floral. Not a success this year (even though it often is). Dull.
Drink 2018-2021

15.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2017

The rare dry white wine of Chateau Pape Clement is made from around 50:50 Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle. Broad and waxy on the nose with melons, grapes and peaches. The palate is oily, rich and smoky, thick with Semillon but still retaining a touch of zesty fruit from the Sauvignon. Pure and fine, there is freshness and purity of lemon fruit through to the finish.

92
Farr Vintners, April 2017

Among the whites of the vintage, the 2016 Château Pape Clément Blanc is one of the most concentrated, deep, and full-bodied whites out there, offering up a red wine-like structure to go with beautiful notes of white grapefruit, Meyer lemon, crushed rocks, and exotic flowers. A blend of 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 36% Sémillon, 9% Sauvignon Gris, and 5% Muscadelle, all from deep gravelly soils and brought up in 55% new French oak, this incredibly textured, pure, balanced white needs 3-4 years of bottle age and will keep for two decades or more. Drink 2022-2042.

98
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, March 2019

The nose is sweet the palate has breadth of flavour a richness without the underlying freshness. The back palate is soft rich fleshy and lacks steely freshness a lack of balance. 2018-22

85/88
Derek Smedley MW, DerekSmedleyMW.co.uk, April 2017

This is always made in a rich, toasty, showy style that’s appealing right out of the blocks, and that’s certainly true here. Smoky, leesy, beeswax and lemon rind flavours are supported by vivid acidity. 2017-22

93
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, April 2017
Read more tasting notes...

The Pape Clement 2016 Blanc is a blend of 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 36% Sémillon, 9% Sauvignon Gris and 5% Muscadelle. It leaps from the glass with gregarious scents of ripe peaches, fresh grapefruit and key lime pie plus touches of cedar, honeysuckle and toast. Medium-bodied, the palate offers fantastic precision and depth, with layers of citrus and stone fruit flavors supported by a racy line of freshness, finishing very long. Drink 2021-2037.

95+
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (Interim En), November 2018

The 2016 Pape Clément Blanc contains no Sauvignon Gris this year. It is slightly deeper in color compared to its peers, though the well-defined bouquet is perhaps not quite as complex, becoming slightly waxy with aeration. The palate is well balanced with, again, a waxy-textured entry. There is good weight in the mouth, and the slightly honeyed style reveals a twist of sour lemon on the finish. Drink over the next 12 years. Drink 2019-2029.

91
Neal Martin, vinous.com (Jan 2019), January 2019

The 2016 Pape Clement Blanc is a blend of 55% Sauvignon Blanc and 45% Sémillon that was cropped at 45 hectoliters per hectare between 12-27 September. It has quite an understated bouquet, stony and a little distant at first but then opening up with lime flower, kiwi fruit and a touch of limestone. The palate is fresh on the entry, the Sauvignon Blanc driving this Pape Clement along, perhaps less flamboyant and viscous in style than previous vintages, but I appreciate the tautness and delineation here, the persistent and slightly saline finish. This is excellent. Drink 2019 - 2032.

92/94
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (230), April 2017

A solid and four-square white with lemon-rind and dried-apple character. Pears, too. Full and dense with layers of fruit and phenolic character. Red wine texture in a white. One for aging.

94/95
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2017
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.