Château Pape Clément 2016

VertdeVin

The nose is fine, fruity, racy and offers a nice minerality. It reveals notes of lemon and green apple associated with a discreet hint of flowers as well as slight notes of citrus and a touch of exotic fruits. The palate is fruity, well-balanced, racy, slightly fleshy and offers a nice roundness, fat, a fine tension, complexity, elegance, a fine unctuosity and minerality. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of ripe apple, ripe brugnon, ripe lemon and slight notes of tangerine, combined with a discreet hint of orange, exotic fruits (quenette, lychee, a touch of exotic fruits), a hint of wood, green almond and a subtle hint of vanilla on the background (very discreet / imperceptible). Good length. Beautiful persistence with touches of toasted wood as well as on a subtle hint of hazelnut / almond on the aftertaste.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

Deep in color, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and packed with layers of dark red fruits. The texture is lush, the fruit is sweet, powerful ripe and juicy. On the palate you find dense, ripe, sweet, smoky blackberries, cigar box, espresso and licorice. Even with all this heft, you still find energy in the finish. I am really liking the elegance and restraint found here due to lower alcohol and a more restrained use of new oak. Still, this needs at least 12 years or so of aging, before it really starts maturing.

Adrian van Velsen - vvWine.ch

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

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.

Jeb Dunnuck

Tasted on two separate occasions, the 2016 Château Pape Clément never failed to impress, 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.

James Suckling

Stunning concentration of perfectly ripe blackcurrants here with a delicate whiff of vanilla oak and extremely fine tannins that are almost perfectly integrated on the seductive and delicate palate, right through the almost literally breathtaking, super-long and very polished finish. Try from 2022.