2017 Pape Clement Blanc

The Pape Clement 2017 Blanc (composed of 55% Sauvignon Blanc and 45% Sémillon) has loads of exotic fruit—pineapple, green guava and passion fruit—with crushed stones, fragrant herbs and mandarin peel hints. The palate is medium-bodied, intense and racy with a long, pure, exotic fruit finish.

The 2017 Pape Clément Blanc is airy, weighty and so inviting. Hints of tangerine, passion fruit, white flowers and mint all lift from the glass. In the recent past, the Blanc has been oily and unctuous. There is plenty of textural depth to the 2017, but what impresses me most is its understatement and refinement. There is so much to like.

The 2017 Chateau Pape Clement Blanc showed spectacularly well and is one of the wines (if not the wine) of the vintage. Based on 55% Sauvignon and 45% Semillon aged 14 months in barrel, it offers powerful notes of honeyed melon, tart pineapple, green figs, and floral notes as well as a terrific sense of minerality. Concentrated, medium to full-bodied, with rocking levels of acidity, give it 2-4 years and enjoy over the following 15 years or more.