2020, Château Pape Clement Rouge, Grands Crus Classés de Graves

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot.

The 2020 Pape Clément Rouge has an incredibly intense bouquet with multi-layered blackberry and bilberry fruit, cedar and black olive compote aromas. Hints of vanilla pod and black truffle emerge with time. The palate is medium-bodied with firm and quite assertive tannins that frame a huge weight of fruit (more than Domaine de Chevalier or Malartic-Lagravière tasted alongside). It's not a subtle Pessac-Léognan for sure, but there is adequate freshness and a sense of mineralité and tension on the finish. It will require at least a decade in bottle but long-term, this will be magnificent.  95 Neal Martin, Vinous. 

The 2020 Pape Clément is outrageously beautiful. Dark, virile and imposing, the 2020 is a rare vintage of Pape Clément that is vertical and statuesque in feel. Dark fruit, chocolate, new leather, liquorice and cloves infuse the palate with tremendous depth. In a word: magnificent. 98 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.

Powerful in colour, this has the glass staining red and purple colours that Pape Clément does so well. Touches of liquorice and cocoa beans, well handled, this gives power with one hand but takes it away with the other as the austerity and fresh mint leaf comes to the fore. Impressive, a really enjoyable, classically wrought but still full of concentration Pape Clément. Savoury, there is nothing to exuberant in the fruits but it exudes deft confidence.  94 Jane Anson, Decanter. 

Aromas of rich cherries, cassis, burning embers, violets and dark chocolate introduce the 2020 Pape Clément, a medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy wine that's ripe, layered and generously extracted but also a touch deeper and more reserved than the flashy 2019. While it would be an exaggeration to say that this estate's red wines are making much of a shift in the direction of restraint, the style is certainly less aspirational than it was a decade ago. 94+ William Kelley, Wine Advocate.

Deep garnet-purple coloured, the 2020 Pape Clement comes barreling out of the glass with bold notes of cassis, plum preserves and liquorice, giving way to scents of cedar chest, crushed rocks, charcoal and pencil lead. The medium to full-bodied palate is tightly coiled with beautiful tension and a firm, finely grained texture locking in the layers of black fruits and minerals, finishing with great length and energy. The blend this year is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot, aging mainly in French oak barriques, 66% new, with about 10% aging in large oak foudres. The wine will spend approximately 18 months in barrels.  96-98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate.

Drinking Window: 2030 - 2065