2022 Pape Clement Blanc
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Tasting notes
The 2022 Pape Clément Blanc offers pretty orchard fruit on the nose, though it doesn't quite possess the complexity of its peers. The palate is more interesting: a silver bead of acidity, lightly spiced, maybe a little more honeyed towards the second half. There is some hardness towards the finish, where it comes across muddled. This is far below the bottle tasted in Bordeaux last year and I shall try to re-taste this. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
Critic scores
Average Score
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
The 2022 Pape Clément Blanc has an attractive nose with honeysuckle candle wax, mandarin and lanolin aromas. The palate is well balanced with a keen line of acidity and tropical notes of passionfruit and guava, which furnish rather than define the wine. It offers fine tension on the finish with a slightly honeyed aftertaste. This will be difficult to resist in its youth.
Mint, white peach, green apples, and pear aromatics open the perfume. On the palate, the wine is ripe, creamy, and focused on its wealth of sweet, yellow citrus, pineapple, white peach, and orange rind notes in the mid-palate, and in the finish. The wine blends 63% Sauvignon Blanc, 35% Semillon and 2% Muscadelle. Picking took place August 28 - September 2.
The 2022 Château Pape Clément Blanc is another beauty from this team, and if it puts on some weight over the course of its élevage, it will merit an even higher score. Honeyed lychee, minty herbs, melon, and stone fruits define the bulk of the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with good concentration, nicely integrated acidity, and a great finish. I was able to taste this on multiple occasions with consistent notes.
About the producer
Among the oldest estates in Bordeaux, Ch. Pape Clément has been guided into the modern era by Bernard Magrez, who has managed the estate since 1985. It makes some of the best reds in the region.