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Climens 2005

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Sauternes and Barsac
ColourSweet White
TypeStill
Grape VarietySauvignon Blanc

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Climens

Label

Tasting Notes

No tasting note given.

97
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (176), April 2008

Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château Climens just soars from the glass with layers of clear honey, marmalade, nectarine and minerals all beautifully carved. The palate is medium-bodied with fresh, vibrant honeyed fruit that builds and builds in the mouth in tandem with a killer line of acidity. Even though it is a convincing, great Climens, you also have the impression that it is only just beginning to show what it is capable of. Bérénice Lurton and her team excelled in this vintage and it comes strongly recommended. Drink 2020-2060.

97
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (219), June 2015
95
James Suckling, WineSpectator.com, February 2008

Tasted blind. Deep orangey gold. Smells of crème pâtissière. So rich! Lots of excitement and sheer weight and volume. Good energy on the finish. Marzipan notes. Unctuous.
Drink 2017-2035

17.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, March 2017

Highly spiced but also a little floral. Intense bitter orange, highly concentrated, very rich and thick and mouth-filling and less fresh than some vintages but still balanced in a richer, more rounded and powerful style. Needs more age to add complexity and balance that richness. Drink 2014-2040. Date tasted 13th May 09.

18.5+
Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, August 2009

Good full golden-yellow. Musky, very fresh aromas of crystallized citrus peel, minerals and toasted bread. The palate offers incredible sappy concentration and a saline aspect, not to mention a penetrating quality rare for this fruit-driven year. In fact, this begins almost light, then builds inexorably toward the back, finishing with a tactile impression of extract and an extraordinary sweetness that almost reminded me of the Suduiraut that I tasted just before it. Should go on for decades.

94+
Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, July 2008

A five-star wine in the making. The final 'assemblage' was not made, so one could only taste elements of the wine. But even from this, the exceptional quality was clear. The total crop was 24 hl/ha; nearly twice the average for 1995-2004. This is indicative of the exceptional conditions in the vineyard throughout the harvesting. My notes keep retuning to words like intensity and freshness of the perfume, citrus/pineapple aroma, enormous, rich flavours with long, lingering freshness, finesse and sweetness and acidity balance. 5 stars

5
David Peppercorn MW, Decanter.com, May 2006
Read more tasting notes...

As usual, Ch Climens was not assembled in time for the primeurs tastings but, unusually, (a) some lots had already been assembled, because the sugar levels on some were so high that they needed to be matched already to some in which the acidity would counterbalance them and (b) Berenice Lurton did not herself conduct a cellar tour of unusual cask-by-cask length but stayed indoors with her three week old son Aurelien instead. As usual, each lot was informatively different, one particularly nutty, another more citrus and lively, a third more floral and explosive and a fourth extraordinarily high in acidity but it was clear that this was an unusually sweet, rich vintage for Climens but with much better acidity than the 2003. Not quite as thrilling as the 2001 but not too much short of it. Drink 2015-35

18.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2006

Full yellow-gold color. Flamboyant aromas of apricot, five-spice powder, flowers and smoky oak. Glyceral, fat and exotic, with mirabelle, honeyed apricot and spice flavors of great richness. There's something here that reminds me of plum wine. Seems to gain in fat and glyceral texture as it opens in the glass, with an emerging saline element contributing to the impression of chewiness. Finishes wonderfully thick, spicy and long, with compelling sweetness. This should evolve slowly over a period of decades.

91/95
Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, December 2007
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.