CHÂTEAU PAPE CLEMENT

One of the stars of the vintage, the 2015 Pape Clément is fabulous. Dark and beautifully resonant, it captures all the natural radiance of the year in the Pape Clément style. Super-ripe black cherry, plum, mocha, chocolate, new leather and spice effortlessly fill out the wine's ample frame. Soft contours and an open-knit, inviting personality are just two of the reasons the Pape Clément is going to be virtually impossible to resist, even in the early going. The blend is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. Tasted two times. Drinking range: 2022 - 2035 Rating: 96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)

Deepish crimson. Seductively ripe damson fruit. Rich and chewy, full-bodied and firmly structured for the long term. Much better balance than some previous vintages I have tasted. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 17.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2017)

Very dark. Sweet yet fresh - very beguiling initially but maybe a little overdone. Intense and almost as though concentrated. Rather dry on the end. Hard work on the end. Drinking range: 2024 - 2034 Rating: 16.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)

Rating: 88 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2016)

The assemblage is 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, picked between September 25th and October 15th. A beautifully perfumed nose, the real essence of Graves, with a lightly quartzy gravel freshness, and a rose-petal and peony fragrance, draped over a little dusty blackcurrant and cherry fruit. A really charming and elegant structure on the palate, poised and precise, with beautifully framed fruit, black cherry, with liquorice and cocoa bean tinges. The tannins are so ripe, very elegant, present but not distracting, showing only in the middle and finish but adding to the harmony of the composition. An impressive barrel sample, tasted twice, with evident consistency. Rating: 17.5-18.5/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)

Clear reductive environment, saving the best nose for the consumer and not for en primeur. A lovely richly textured wine –really velvety with gorgeous purity to the damson and black cherry fruits. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2016)

The 2015 Pape Clément is stunningly beautiful. Rich, ample and powerful, the 2015 exudes richness. As always, Pape Clément is one of the most overt wines in Pessac, but the move towards picking a bit earlier gives the wine more energy than was the norm a decade ago without fundamentally altering the style Bernard Magrez and Michel Rolland favor. Dark red cherry, plum, menthol, licorice, blood orange and exotic spices are all very much alive. The purity of the fruit here is striking. This is one of the best recent vintages of Pape Clément I have tasted. The 2015 is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, done in about 80% new oak. Rating: 93-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)

Big, broad and overt in style, with a thick frame of espresso and roasted apple wood around a core of dense plum paste and cassis flavors. Strides along authoritatively, as melted licorice and fruitcake notes fill in on the hefty finish. Shows more style than terroir, but pulls it off. Rating: 93—96 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)