Winemaker Notes
Blend: 55% Sauvignon Blanc, 45% Semillon
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
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.
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James Suckling
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.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 Points -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 Points -
Wine Enthusiast
While herbal flavors are present, this wine is more about lush yellow fruits layered with wood and spice. The texture is generous and full-bodied, giving the wine spaciousness as well as a crisp texture.
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Decanter
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.
Barrel Sample
Sometimes light and crisp, other times rich and creamy, Bordeaux White Blends typically consist of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Often, a small amount of Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris is included for added intrigue. Popularized in Bordeaux, the blend is often mimicked throughout the New World. Somm Secret—Sauternes and Barsac are usually reserved for dessert, but they can be served before, during or after a meal. Try these sweet wines as an aperitif with jamón ibérico, oysters with a spicy mignonette or during dinner alongside hearty Alsatian sausage.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.