Château Pape Clément 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

This 32.5-hectare estate is surrounded by the city of Bordeaux, not far from Haut-Brion. In the vineyards, farming is thoughtful, with Esca-infected vines counted and registered by tractor, and both horses and an electric tractor are employed to avoid compacting the soils—and to respect the neighboring dwellings. While the château isn’t organic, the use of chemical products is kept to a minimum, and activity in the estate’s beehives is monitored immediately after a treatment to verify that there hasn’t been any adverse impact. Planted in red with roughly equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and in white with roughly equal parts Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, Pape Clément produces some of Pessac-Léognan’s richest, most dramatic wines, though recent years have seen a discreet turn toward a somewhat more restrained style, a shift especially obvious in the château’s white wine: Merlot is picked a touch earlier than in the past; foudres and large-format oak barrels now supplement 225-liter barriques; and the percentage of new oak is more modest. While there’s still room for evolution, these 2021s represent fine efforts in a challenging vintage.

William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

About Pape Clément

Few great wines can boast seven centuries of history and trace their origins back to a pope.

Elected supreme pontiff during the reign of King Philip the Handsome in 1305, Clement V gave his name to Château Pape Clément.

The present owner does his utmost to perpetuate the ancient tradition of quality. Among other innovations, this was the first estate in Bordeaux to destem the entire crop by hand. The grapes are transported by gravity flow into small oak fermentation vats adapted to the yield of each plot. The entire winemaking process is conducted with minute attention to detail. Combining traditional and state-of-the-art techniques, Pape Clément is made according to the highest standards.

Everything is done in the vineyard to let the terroir express itself fully. As part of an environmentally-friendly approach, chemical weed killers have been abandoned in favour of ploughing.

In the Vineyard

In the Winery

Where in the World is Pape Clément?

Pape Clément is in the Pessac-Leognan to the south of the city of Bordeaux.

Explore Bordeaux in detail with the interactive map below.