Chateau Pape Clement (Futures Pre-Sale) 2012
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Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine -
Wong
Wilfred -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Pape Clement is one of the stars of the vintage, which is not surprising given this estate's performances over the last 10-15 years. A blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc, it exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color along with a beautifully sweet, graphite-scented nose with hints of black currants, Asian plum sauce, soy and forest floor. Impressively built with medium to full-bodied flavors, it has more layers than many wines from this vintage, an appealing density and a velvety texture.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 Points -
Wine Enthusiast
A very dry and tannic wine, this is hard edged, showing distinct minerality and a dry, gravelly feel. It has herbal notes, followed by rich spice and dark, brooding fruits. A powerful wine with a sense of extraction.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 Points -
Wine Spectator
Densely packed, with lots of dark steeped currant, fig and blackberry fruit, slowly melding with muscular licorice snap, bramble, singed bay and ganache notes. The long, dark, ganache-coated finish isn’t shy, but an enticing rusticity keeps this honest. A largescaled wine that has really powered up since the barrel tasting. Best from 2018 through 2027.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Always one of the richest of the Pessac-Léognan reds, the 2012 Château Pape Clément offers a bounty of ripe fruit, sweet oak, and palate satisfaction. Drinks nicely now with a grilled Porterhouse steak. (Tasted: January 30, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
Offering perfumed notes of spice box, dried red and black currants, cigar wrapper, toasted bread and leather, the 2012 Pape Clement is medium to full-bodied, silky, elegant, and beautifully pure on the palate, with no hard edges, a seamless, voluptuous texture and a classy finish. It's already approachable, but it should evolve nicely on its overall balance.
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James Suckling
This is already a gorgeous wine with spices, berries, dark chocolate and walnuts. Full body, soft and silky. Beauty. Better than 2011.
Barrel Sample: 92-93 Points
Chateau Pape Clément owes its name to its most illustrious owner. A man of the cloth born in 1264, Bertrand de Goth became Bishop of Comminges, in the Pyrenees Mountains, at the age of 31; he later became Archbishop of Bordeaux in 1299.
He then received as a gift the property in Pessac, the Vineyard de La Mothe. Taken by a passion for the vine, he continually took part personally in equipping, organizing and managing the domain in accordance with the most modern and rational practices. Nevertheless, on 5 June 1305 the cardinals met in a conclave in Pérouse and appointed him to succeed Pope Benedict XI, who had passed away prematurely after only eleven months of reign. Bertrand de Goth took the name of Clement V.
Supported by Philip IV, it was he who decided in 1309 to move the papal court to Avignon, thus breaking with Rome and its battles of influence. During this same period, the weight of his responsibilities led him to relinquish his property, giving it to the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Henceforward, the vineyard was to be known to posterity under the name of this enlightened pope.
The early period
Management under the clergy brings modernity The grateful Church perpetuated Pope Clement's work. Each archbishop in turn turned to modernity and technical progress, to the point of the wine estate becoming a model vineyard. In addition to especially early harvests, which remain one of its
special characteristics, Chateau Pape Clément is without a doubt the first vineyard in France to align vine stock to facilitate labour.
After the Revolution
At the end of the 18th century, the Archbishop of Bordeaux was dispossessed of his property. The papal vineyard became part of the public domain.
The 20th century
8 June 1937 was a dark day in the vineyard's history, when a violent hailstorm
destroyed virtually the entirety of the estate. Two years later, Paul Montagne bought
it and gradually brought it back to life. Thanks to his efforts, the vineyard returned to
its former rank and stood up to the surge in urbanization.
His descendents, Léo Montagne and Bernard Magrez, perpetuate this secular
tradition so that Chateau Pape Clément wines continue to delight the wine-lovers of today and tomorrow.