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CHATEAU PAPE CLEMENT PESSAC-LEOGNAN 2020
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
Vintage: 2020
Score: 98
Lots of blackberry, iodine and crushed stone here. Some black pepper and graphite, too. Full body and medium, fine tannins that have a powdery texture and open in the mouth. So much going on. Iodine and iron undertones with some raw mushroom bring you back for more. Muscular. This is for the cellar. Drink after 2027.
2020 Pape Clement
Producer: Pape Clement
Place of Origin: France, Pessac Leognan Grand Cru Classe, Graves, Bordeaux
Color: Red
Rating: 98
Drinking Window: 2030 - 2050
From: Bordeaux 2020: Saving the Best for Last (Feb 2023)
The 2020 Pape Clement is outrageously beautiful. Dark, virile and imposing, the 2020 is a rare vintage of Pape Clement that is vertical and statuesque in feel. Dark fruit, chocolate, new leather, licorice and cloves infuse the palate with tremendous depth. In a word: magnificent.
By: Antonio Galloni on December 2022
2020 Chateau Pape Clement
Producer: Chateau Pape Clement
Location: France, Bordeaux, Pessac-Leognan
Color: Red
Rating: 97+
Tasting Date: 3/29/2023
Maturity: 2027 - 2057
Reviewed By: Jeb Dunnuck
Source: 2020 Bordeaux from Bottle
I loved the 2020 Chateau Pape Clement, and this beauty is up there with the top wines in Pessac. Checking in as equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, aged 18 months in [...] barrels [...], it offers a deep purple hue to go with a powerful, concentrated profile displaying both red and black fruits, lots of spicy, chocolate, flowery incense nuances, full-bodied richness, and an almost salty, bloody character on the finish. This beauty shows the concentrated yet utterly classic, focused, elegant style of the vintage and has so much to love. It's going to be even better with 4-6 years of bottle age and will see its 30th birthday in fine form.
2020 Chateau Pape Clement (Pessac-Leognan)
Points: 97
With a deep hue that is close to opaque, the wine exudes smoke, roasted espresso, cigar wrappers, blackberries, black cherries, licorice and chocolate. There is fabulous depth, purity, length and complexity here. The richly-textured finish is fleshy, powerful, intense and polished, with an endnote that keeps on going long after the wine has left the glass. This is the finest vintage of Pape Clement in years. Drink from 2026-2055.
Tasted Mar 21, 2023
Chateau Pape Clement, Pessac-Leognan, Cru Classe de Graves, Bordeaux, France 2020
Tasted by Georgina Hindle (at Pomerol, 01 Jan 2023)
Part of Pessac-Leognan and Graves 2020 in bottle: overview plus top-scoring wines
Points: 95
Drinking Window: 2027 - 2048
Producer: Chateau Pape Clement
Vintage: 2020
Wine Type: Still
Colour: Red
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
Appellation: Pessac-Leognan
Sweetness: Dry
Closure: Cork
Body: Medium
Tannic heft from the get-go, though this does have a lovely fresh, clean and precise core with a narrow, focused frame so the elements come across as quite tight and severe right now but well worked. It has class, no doubt, on the high-toned scale, potent and upfront but there's gorgeous detail and precision to the fruit, acidity and tannins. Slick and classy with lots of glamour that plays to the strengths of the vintage.
Chateau Pape Clement Pessac-Leognan 2020
Score: 95
Wine Type and Color: Red Still
Reviewed By: James Molesworth
Primary Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Other Grapes: Merlot
Issue: November 30, 2022
Region: France / Bordeaux / Pessac-Leognan
This is snazzed up with flashy toast, but there's ample mulberry, cassis and plum compote fruit to soak it up, while notes of licorice and sweet spice fill in the background. A late tug of warm earth keeps this grounded. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2028 through 2038.
Chateau Pape Clement 2020 Barrel Sample (Pessac-Leognan)
From: Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux, France
Rating: 95
Winery: Chateau Pape Clement
Region: Bordeaux
Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend
Wine Type: Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
94-96. Barrel Sample. This ancient estate, an oasis in the suburbs of Bordeaux city, offers a wine that is packed with promising tannins. The important and rich black fruits reveal concentration, density and the potential of the development of a fine balance and structure as it matures.
Reviewed By: Roger Voss
2020 Pape Clement
Rating: 94+
Producer: Pape Clement
Wine Region: France, Bordeaux, Pessac-Leognan
Variety: Proprietary blend
Color / Type / Sweetness: Red / Table / Dry
Reviewed by William Kelley
Drink Date: 2025 - 2050
Aromas of rich cherries, cassis, burning embers, violets and dark chocolate introduce the 2020 Pape Clement, 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.
Published: Apr 06, 2023