CHÂTEAU CLIMENS

Bright golden yellow. Fresh apricot, orange oil, hazelnut and racy spices on the tangy nose. Silky, lush and deep, with superb balancing acidity keeping this utterly seamless wine light on its feet. Showing more spice than apricot fruit now but this refined, very long wine is dusty with material and very long and subtle on the aftertaste. Its balance makes it attractive already but I'd hold it for at least another five to seven years to give it a chance to absorb some of its spicy oak. Rating: 93-93 Stephen Tanzer, www.vinousmedia.com (Apr 2010)

Rating: 92-95 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, www.RobertParker.com

As every year, the final blend has not been made and the tasting at the châteaux is of various barrel samples of individual lots picked on different dates, even at different times of the day. Harvesting took place 30 Sep to 30 Oct with just 4 tries or picking phases, with 57% of the harvest gathered in the 4 days of the second phase (21, 22, 26, 27 Oct). The total harvest was 122 barrels, split into 13 lots, a little lower than the average of the last 10 years. Yield was 11 ha/ha. The first tri was generally richer and more fruity than the others. My favourite lot was perhaps less concentrated than recent vintages but with a delicate floral character and lovely brightness and elegance. The slightly lower concentration seemed to allow an attractive liveliness. All six lots tasted were quite distinct, some more marked by oak than others, so it's hard to draw a conclusion on how the final blend will taste but this selection of possible components suggests a fresh, bright lightly floral wine, still with excellent intensity and lovely apricot botrytis depth but a little less rich than the 2007 and none the worse for that. 2016-36 Rating: 18 Jancis Robinson MW OBE - www.JancisRobinson.com