2024 Chateau Pape Clement Cru Classe, Pessac-Leognan

Ripe currants, scorched earth, and graphite all emerge from the 2024 Château Pape Clément, which shows a terrific sense of minerality. Based on 53% Merlot and 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, it's medium to full-bodied, fresh, and focused, with ultra-fine tannins. This understated, seamless, and beautifully balanced Pessac-Léognan is well worth your time and money. Just classic stuff.

The 2024 Pape Clément is unusual in that Cabernet Sauvignon drives the blend. That is evident in the wine's strong savory profile and overall structural feel. A reduction in the oak imprint emphasizes fruit and overall vibrancy. The 2024 is not as showy or easy to taste as most vintages, but the style here has also undergone a pretty radical transformation. It was vinified in oak, steel and concrete. A significant portion of the wine saw malolactic fermentation in tank rather than oak, as had been the case in the past. That adds up to a vibrant, nervy Pape Clément that represents a new era here.

Sweet damson fruit, concentration through the mid palate that balances out the austerity on the opening. These are tannins with ageing ability. Harvest September 23 through to October 11. 50% new oak, with the rest between larger oak casks, one year old oak and amphora. Bernard Magrez owner, Julien Viaud consultant. 60ha today, did get as high as 90ha but they are back to focusing on the original Pauillac vineyards boht for the red and white wines.

A smoky, oaky bouquet of spices, incense and dark berries prefaces the 2024 Pape Clément, a moderately weighted, supple and open-knit palate built around tangy acids and brittle tannins.

The 2024 Pape Clément now only comes from the original terroir in Pessac. It underwent a rigorous sorting such that 30% was deselected and the Grand Vin comprises half of the remainder. It is aged 70% in barrel (two-thirds new), 15% in foudres and 15% in concrete and stainless-steel/sandstone vessels. It has an elegant bouquet, certainly more restrained than recent vintages with crisp black fruit and veins of blueberry and iris flower. The palate is medium-bodied and powdery in texture with sappy blackberry and bilberry fruit, but the tannins just feel a bit sharp on the finish at the moment. Tasted four or five times, the 2024 is a Pape-Clément with good intentions but doesn't deliver on its promise. The same approach in a benevolent vintage would yield a far better wine.

53% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Cask sample.

Ample and fruity, the Merlot perceptible. Broad across the palate then firm and structured on the finish. Extraction within reason for the vintage. (JL)

13% Drink 2030 – 2042