Winemaker Notes
Among the best dry whites of Bordeaux and of Pessac Léognan, this wine combines richness, concentration, and finesse. Like for the reds, the aromatic palette is both precise and full, with notes of citrus, green fruit, minerality and fine oak. On the palate, the concentration and length are exceptional. Its potential for long ageing should be used to draw out all its quintessence.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Beautiful aromas of lime curd, dried pear, grilled white peach and flint on the nose. So exotic on the nose. Some cream and honey, too. It’s medium-bodied with bright, tangy acidity. Creamy and focused with lingering dried-citrus and crushed-gravel notes. Long. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Always high on the richness scale, this estate’s white wine is vibrant with white fruits and hints of apricots. It is structured with wood aging and a tight texture that shows that the wine needs to age. The wine will be ready to drink from 2023.
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Wine Spectator
A beauty from the start, with shortbread, acacia and honeysuckle details leading the way, quickly followed by fennel, tarragon, salted butter and lemon peel notes. Long, focused finish is carried by superfine acidity that puts everything in perfect lock step. Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle. Best from 2022 through 2030.
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Jeb Dunnuck
This estate has fashioned a pretty, elegant white in the vintage. Light gold-hued, with lots of pineapple, lemon curd, white flowers, and a touch of honeyed citrus and chalky minerality, the 2018 Château Pape Clement Blanc hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, solid depth of fruit, and a great finish. It doesn't match recent great vintages, but it's a balanced, layered, outstanding white to enjoy over the coming decade or so.
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Decanter
Honeysuckle and lemon curd, pretty tropical, rich and powerful, just lacking some lift on the finish although this has gourmet patisserie notes and is enjoyable. Drinking Window 2021 - 2032
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Clémentin de Pape Clement Blanc comes skipping out of the glass with bright, cheery notes of fresh pineapple, orange blossoms and Bosc pears, with hints of beeswax and yuzu. The medium-bodied palate has bags of vibrant tropical and citrus fruit flavors with a racy backbone and minerally finish.
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.