Château Pape Clément
Encyclopedia
Bordeaux wine
A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...
from the Pessac-Léognan
Pessac-Léognan
Pessac-Léognan is a French wine appellation, within the Graves subregion of the Bordeaux wine region. Both red and white wine is produced within the appellation, which consists of 10 communes: Cadaujac, Canéjan, Gradignan, Léognan, Martillac, Mérignac, Pessac, Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans, Talence and...
appellation
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
, ranked among the Premiers Crus for red wine in the Classification of Graves wine
Classification of Graves wine
The wines of Graves in the wine-growing region of Bordeaux were classified in 1953 by a jury appointed by Institute Nacional des Appellations d'Origine, and approved by the Minister of Agriculture in August of that year. The selection was revised with a few additions in February 1959...
of 1959. It is the oldest wine estate in Bordeaux, harvesting
Harvest (wine)
The harvesting of wine grapes is one of the most crucial steps in the process of winemaking. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to...
its 700th vintage
Vintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
in 2006. The winery
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
and vineyards are located in the commune of Pessac
Pessac
Pessac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the second-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux and is adjacent to it on the southwest. It is a member of the metropolitan Urban Community of Bordeaux...
, south-west of the city of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. When the estate was omitted from the initial Graves classification of 1953 it caused some controversy.
History
Planted in 1300, the estate is the oldest planted vineyard in the region, when it was presented to Bertrand de GothPope Clement V
Pope Clement V, born Raymond Bertrand de Got was Pope from 1305 to his death...
upon his appointment as archbishop of Bordeaux, by his brother, Berald. It received its name from Bertrand's papal name, Clement V
Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V, born Raymond Bertrand de Got was Pope from 1305 to his death...
; on his election in 1306 he gave the estate to his successor as archbishop, Cardinal Arnaud de Canteloup. Bertrand, who would later move the papacy to Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
near Châteauneuf-du-Pape, planted this original vineyard with red wine grapes. White wine grapes were planted across the river near the town of Lormont
Lormont
Lormont is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is a suburb of the city of Bordeaux and is adjacent to it on the northeast. Thus, it is a member of the metropolitan Urban Community of Bordeaux.-Etymology:...
. The vineyard remained in the possession of archbishops of Bordeaux until the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, when it was nationalised and sold as a bien national.
After the Revolution, a succession of owners oversaw the development of the property as a commercial enterprise, and by the middle of the 19th century the estate was widely regarded to be second only to Haut-Brion, though under the ownership and expansions of Jean-Baptiste Clerc from 1858 to his death just before 1880, the wines of Pape-Clément was selling at a price equivalent to a Médoc second growth. Later owners, including an Englishman named Maxwell who neglected the estate, experienced difficult times, with hail devastation in 1937, the onset of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the expansions of the suburbs of Bordeaux coming closer.
The estate was eventually revitalised under the ownership of the vigneron and poet Paul Montagne who arrived in 1939. In need of reconstituting the vineyards from the scratch, the results of improvement were not seen until 1949. Having engaged the services of oenologist
Oenology
Oenology,[p] œnology , or enology is the science and study of all aspects of wine and winemaking except vine-growing and grape-harvesting, which is a subfield called viticulture. “Viticulture & oenology” is a common designation for training programmes and research centres that include both the...
Émile Peynaud, the wines of Pape-Clément have been viewed as increasingly successful, and has been described by David Peppercorn
David Peppercorn
David Peppercorn is a British Master of Wine, French wine importer and author, known for his books about the wines of Bordeaux and long experience in his field, having collected tasting notes since the late 1950s. He is married to fellow MW and wine writer Serena Sutcliffe. They were the first...
as the most important vineyard of Pessac-Talence behind Haut-Brion
Château Haut-Brion
Château Haut-Brion is a French wine, rated a Premier Cru Classé , produced in the Gironde region. It differs from the other wines on the list in its geographic location in the north of the wine-growing region of Graves...
and La Mission
Château La Mission Haut-Brion
Château la Mission Haut-Brion is a Bordeaux wine from the Pessac-Léognan appellation, classed among the Grand Crus in the Graves classification of 1953...
.
Following the death of Paul Montagne at 94, his son Léo Montagne has joint-ownership of the estate, partnered with Bernard Magrez
Bernard Magrez
Bernard Magrez, born 1936, is a French wine magnate who predominantly owns Bordeaux wine estates, including Château La Tour Carnet and Château Pape Clément, but also a large number of wine producing properties in other French wine regions and other countries, including Spain, Chile, Argentina and...
, owner of Château La Tour Carnet
Château La Tour Carnet
Château La Tour Carnet is a Bordeaux wine estate in the appellation Haut-Médoc. The wine produced here was classified as one of ten Quatrièmes Crus in the historic Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, at the time known by the name of Carnet.-History:The estate has origins in the early...
. The estate currently employs the flying winemaker Michel Rolland
Michel Rolland
Michel Rolland is an influential Bordeaux-based oenologist, with hundreds of clients across 13 countries and influencing wine style around the world...
as a consultant.
Production
The vineyard area consists of 32.5 hectares, 30 of which are planted with grape varieties of 60% Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
and 40% Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
. The remaining plots are cultivated with white varieties of 45% Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...
, 45% Sémillon
Sémillon
Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...
and 10% Muscadelle
Muscadelle
Muscadelle is a white wine grape variety. It has a simple aroma of grape juice and raisins like grapes of the Muscat family of grapes, but it is unrelated....
.
The Grand vin, Chateau Pape Clément, is produced annually in 7,000 cases of red wine and 350 cases of dry white wine. Additionally there are produced second wine
Second wine
Second wine is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from cuvee not selected for use in the Grand vin or first label...
s Le Clémentin du Pape Clément and Le Prélat du Pape Clément. The introduction of a second wine in the 1980s, was widely credited with allowing the estate to increase their focus on the quality of their Grand vin, by being more selective in which grapes were used. Today the Grand vin is typically composed of two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot making up the remaining third. The wine is aged in oak barrels (almost half being new oak) for a minimum of fourteen months. The non-cru classé white wine will typically be composed of equal amounts of Sauvignon blanc and Sémillon, depending on the vintage.