Château Pape Clement 2018

This wine is a blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc to be aged for approximately 18 months in oak barriques, 60% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Pape Clement is a little closed, slowly unfurling to reveal fragrant earth, crushed rocks, iron ore and tobacco notions over a core of crushed red and black currants plus kirsch, red roses and Ceylon tea. Full-bodied and wonderfully vivacious, it offers a solid line of firm and fine-grained tannins and amazing freshness, finishing very long and mineral laced.

This is a very driven Pape Clément with fantastic density and finesse at the same time. Linear and driven, the finish goes on for minutes with incredible tension and focus. More cabernet. Refinement with power.

Black core, purple rim. Plenty of lively black fruit on the nose, then really thick and chewy on the palate. The alcohol, high generally in this vintage, shows here. Dense, chewy and a bit monolithic. Tough finish at the moment. For lovers of power rather than elegance, though I think it would be too much for the table.
Drink 2028-2036

This is really well put together, with waves of steeped plum, currant and raspberry fruit, bolts of licorice and tar and a long apple wood accent on the sappy finish.

Dry and powerful, the style of wine here is certainly long-lived and yet while the tannins are huge and there is powerful astringency on the finish, the fruit manages to control these two elements well because it is so rich and deep. You would have to like oaky wines to be able to appreciate this, and, it is right at the extremities for me, but I think that this is a grand wine and it will age for an eternity, too.