1966 Pape Clement
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Tasting notes
Still very much holding up, soft smoky tar notes that are so typical of mature Pessac wines. Tertiary but still with fruit and life, sweet cherry, liquorice, tar, wild strawberry, fine tannins. In 1966, Château Pape Clément was owned by Paul Montagne, a Bordeaux wine merchant and négociant, who had purchased the estate in 1939. This was before the formation of Pessac-Léognan in 1987, and the wine was still bottled as Graves.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
More reviews and scores
This wine has been fully mature since the early seventies, and has always represented one of the best examples of this estate's style. It is consistently elegant, with Pape-Clement's telltale bouquet of smoky tobacco and earthy, cedary, currant fruit. Since the late seventies, the 1966 has ever-so-slowly begun to lose some intensity and take on more amber color. The wine is still very good, but the acidity and tannins are more noticeable in the finish, and the fruit is less intense. This was once a beautiful, elegant wine that is now beginning to decline. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 11/87.
About the producer
Among the oldest estates in Bordeaux, Ch. Pape Clément has been guided into the modern era by Bernard Magrez, who has managed the estate since 1985. It makes some of the best reds in the region.