Description
Gabriel:
Wait until ready to drink (2020 - 2048)
Rating 17/20
Extremely dark purple with purple and violet reflections. A bouquet that differs from all other noses of the same appellation. Why I can say that so easily, because the most important Léognan's and Pessac's were standing next to each other at our private tasting at Château Haut-Bailly. Very mineral, reminiscent of petrol plaster threads, then of a coffee roastery that is not working, of blackcurrant pastilles, boiled cherries and freshly sawn redwood wood, extremely sweet and bombastic in its fullness. Mouth-filling palate with creamy but also demanding tannins, lots of liquorice, currants, smoke. The extraction is dramatic and doesn't match the vintage, but it's probably a garage wine. And Papé-Clément is now, by necessity, the largest garage in Pessac. How can you respect an original so little by producing such an exuberantly vinified pirate copy of the possible original. It is a great wine, so it deserves a high score. Because I have so many old great Pape-Clément vintages in the back of my mind in fond memory, it is miserably penalised in my book - at least in words. No winemaker should try to force a magnum into a normal bottle.
Falstaff: 92/100
Dark ruby colour, violet reflections, subtle edge brightening, dark berry fruit, a hint of liquorice, fine precious wood notes, multi-faceted bouquet. Juicy, cool style, a hint of cranberries, present tannin, mineral aftertaste, the wood is not yet integrated in the finish, delicately astringent, lemony, red berry aftertaste.
