Description
2023 was a challenging vintage, where tenacity, adaptability, and patience were once again important factors in crafting a great vintage at Château Pape Clément!
The harvest started on 23rd August with our Sauvignon Gris, ending on 3rd October with the last of our Cabernet Sauvignon, after 29 days of meticulous picking, a record for Château Pape Clément! With ripening dynamics that varied significantly from one parcel to another, it was essential to stagger the harvest this year to allow all the grapes to gradually reach optimal ripeness. Choosing to harvest by hand and using several passes for each vine plant is proof of our absolute commitment to quality.
Blend: 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
Wood case ships separately.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Based on 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2023 Château Pape Clément has a deep purple hue as well as a sensational perfume of cassis, darker berries, crushed stone, graphite, violets, and subtle smoky tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, pure, and layered on the palate, it has polished tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. It’s a classic, seamless Pape Clément that already offers pleasure yet has the structure and depth to evolve for 30 years. Drink 2026-2056.
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James Suckling
Intense aromas of cloves, green tobacco and bark with mushroom undertones. Medium- to full-bodied, showing plenty of ripe but not overpowering tannins with a thick, silky texture and a long, long finish. A solid red. Seamless. Best after 2029.
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Vinous
The 2023 Pape Clément is one of the most exciting wines I have tasted here in a long time, maybe ever. Intensely aromatic and layered, the 2023 is simply stunning. Dried flowers, mint, licorice, mocha, cedar and tobacco soar out of the glass. The purity of the flavors is simply mind-blowing. Plum, pomegranate, blood orange and spice build in the glass, adding notable textural richness and resonance. This is the first vintage vinified with indigenous yeasts. Aging takes place in a combination of concrete tanks, ceramic eggs, 400-liter barrels and 225-liter barriques. For readers who want to taste the “new” Bordeaux, this is it. What a wine! Tasted four times. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pape Clément evokes aromas of dark wild berries, spices, licorice and mulberries, followed by a medium to full-bodied, round and ample palate with structuring tannins and a firm, concentrated mid-palate that segues into a long, fruity finish. Less oaky than the previous years, this is a more contemporary expression of this great terroir. It's a blend of 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Wine Spectator
This is ripe and inviting, with high-gloss toast along the edges helping to frame a core of morello cherry, damson plum and black currant fruit. Ink, mesquite and violet notes fill in liberally on the finish. Tilts toward showy in style and will have fans for sure. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2027 through 2040.
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Decanter
With aromas of blackberry, plum and crushed tobacco offering promise, I feel that the palate comes across a touch over extracted, with tannins coming to the fore. The good news is less new oak, so that the estate aims for balance, but perhaps the 2023 vintage here is not ideal? In any case, while I appreciate the intensity of the palate, I feel that one should be more conservative until after the bottling, to see the extent to which the barrel ageing will soften the palate.
Barrel Sample: 93
