Chateau Pape Clement Pessac-Léognan Grand Cru Classé 2016

James Suckling

Stunning concentration of perfectly ripe blackcurrants here with a delicate whiff of vanilla oak and extremely fine tannins that are almost perfectly integrated on the seductive and delicate palate, right through the almost literally breathtaking, super-long and very polished finish.

Andreas Larsson Blind Tasted

Intense and nuanced nose, smoky with fine new oak, roasted coffee, inky dark fruit, tobacco and fine spices. Very high concentration with fine proportions, grainy cocoa powder like tannins, wet tobacco, a fresh integrated acidity, gentle oak notes with butterscotch, crushed black currant and plum with a very long and dense aftertaste. Ample, powerful and balanced.

Jean-Marc Quarin

It is superb. A very pure Pape Clément, all nuanced and with a very dense pulp. Bravo!

Houlberg

6,5 Thumbs Up. Sidst jeg smagte Château Pape Clément var det i en årgang 2011 fandt jeg vinen en anelse opulent. Det er fortsat en kraftig og stærk Bordeaux vin, der er kuldsort som tjære og samtidig en smule vild med intens finsk og tør engelsk lakrids. Læg dertil lidt mejeri, kaffe, røget kød, mørke bær, solbær, tobak og tæt i strukturen. Derudover har den et sødligt fadpræg, som bidrager med muldjord, vanilje og sødlig venlighed. Mums. Smagen følger faktisk duften godt undervejs ... sexet, intens, æterisk og pragende. Den er tæt, kompakt og struktureret, men det er på en tør, frisk og stram facon, selvom det egentlig leveres så blødt, cremet og lækkert. Der er sorte kirsebær, blommer, røg, silkefine og tykke tanniner ... alt er godt og smager himmelråbende godt. 98 point.

Jeb Dunnuck

Tasted on two separate occasions, the 2016 Château Pape Clément never failed to impress, offering a huge, powerful, full-bodied personality as well as beautiful notes of cassis, graphite, high-class cigar tobacco, asphalt, and graphite. About as sexy as it gets in the vintage, with silky tannins and loads of fruit, it’s perfectly balanced and has a great finish. The 2016 is a blend of 60% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, all raised in 60% new barrels.

Alexandre Ma

Robert Parker

the 2016 Pape Clement has a deep garnet-purple color and quite a serious, earthy nose with truffles, tilled soil, underbrush and smoked meats over a cassis, baked plums and redcurrants core plus a touch of lavender. Medium to full-bodied, firm and grainy, the palate is built like a brick house, supporting muscular black fruit and earthy notions and finishing very long and mineral laced.

Wine Spectator

This takes a slightly different tack than many of its Pessac colleagues, relying less on bramble and tar and more on alluring toast, with mocha, anise, wood spice and black tea notes draped liberally over the core of sappy kirsch and cherry preserve flavors. Plush and suave through the finish, though this needs a bit of time for the wood elements to be fully integrated with the fruit. For fans of the flashier, cashmere-textured style. Best from 2023 through 2037.

Vinous

The 2016 Pape Clément bursts out of the glass, offering ripe blackberry, raspberry, fresh mint and hints of licorice on the well-defined nose. It is perhaps a little more opulent than its peers, but unlike in the past, I don’t find it excessive. The palate is well balanced with supple tannin. There is a killer line of acidity and real panache toward a velvety, almost Pauillac-like finish armed with shimmering black fruit laced with graphite. Superb.

Antonio Galloni

The 2016 Pape Clément is fabulous. Racy and sumptuous in the glass, the 2016 captures the style that now characterizes Bernard Magrez's wines from his estate in Pessac. Specifically, the 2016 is wonderfully deep in the glass, and yet retains terrific freshness as well. A rush of dark cherry, plum, smoke, scorched earth, grilled herb, leather and menthol builds as the 2016 shows off its compelling, inviting personality.

Tastingbook.com

VV Wine

Open nose with ripe fruit, expressive, spicy, with tobacco, herbs, some charred wood, plus dark blackberry fruit, a hint of chocolate, complex. Creamy on the palate, accessible, surprisingly easy to drink, with fine-grained tannins, good balance of wood and fruit, the wine has traction, precision, power and yet freshness. Ends long-lasting and very harmonious.

Izak Litwar, Great Bordeaux Wines

The Wine Independent

Wine Enthusiast

This is a serious, structured wine with fine tannins as well as acidity. There is a depth of flavor in this elegant wine, with black currant fruit and great structure. A wine for the long haul.

Decanter

An extremely attractive Pape Clement, with its own style and the feeling of the fruit being layered over a silky, seductive line of dark chocolate and tarry oak – and it works. This is big but has good balance, not over the top. It's enjoyable, silky and richly textured, and will age well. The tannins start to build on the finish, with a chewy quality that speaks of the extraction. There’s a lot to enjoy here.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

Deep in color, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and packed with layers of dark red fruits. The texture is lush, the fruit is sweet, powerful ripe and juicy. On the palate you find dense, ripe, sweet, smoky blackberries, cigar box, espresso and licorice. Even with all this heft, you still find energy in the finish. I am really liking the elegance and restraint found here due to lower ABV and a more restrained use of new oak. Still, this needs at least 12 years or so of aging, before it really starts maturing.

Bettane & Desseauve

Le Figaro Vin

Weinwisser

Vert de Vin Magazine

The nose is elegant, fresh, fruity, nicely racy, finely gourmand and offers a fine intensity. It reveals notes of cassis, blueberry, strawberry and hints of flowers (violet, blueberry) combined with a discreet hint of licorice, sweet spices, wood, a small hint of oriental spices as well as a very discreet hint of Sichuan pepper and an imperceptible hint of coffee. The palate is fruity, well-balanced, tight and offers freshness, straightness, a good structure, tension, a fine acid frame and a fine minerality. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of fresh / ripe blackberry, fresh/ripe redcurrant/raspberry and slight notes of cassis associated with hints of chocolate, toasted oak / roasting as well as a discreet hint of flowers, blue fruits and a very discreet hint of Sichuan pepper on the finish. Tannins are fine and well-built. Good length. Beautiful and gourmande persistence. There is a subtle hint of caramelization and hazelnut / vanilla on persistence.

Vinum

"Still showing signs of aging, but of clear class, superb, consistently dense tannins, great, fruity length, excellently made, a must."