2015 Château Pape Clément Blanc

Rich quince, peach pit, saffron, beeswax, intense and structured but this is ready to go. Always an opulent white wine, leaning in to the vintage. Bernard Magrez owner.

Gorgeous, a ton of concentrated, powerful but juicy stone fruits on the nose, the kind of aromatics where you can taste the wine long before you actually take a sip. Lime, lemongrass and citrus are set against a slate minerality on the palate that gives a beautiful dance between intensity and lightness of touch, the same interplay that you find in recent vintages of the red. I gave this 93 points En Primeur and I think now that I underscored it; it deserves higher. Michel Rolland consultant, 29.5hl/h yield.

A wine of real beauty and class, the 2015 Pape Clément Blanc has been nothing short of deeply impressive every time I have tasted it from barrel or bottle. Like most of Bernard Magrez's wines, the Pape Clément Blanc is rich, textured and racy in style. Orange peel, exotic white flowers, mint, chamomile and a dash of new French oak infuse this creamy, sensual Blanc. Drink it over the next handful of years. Even with all of its intensity, the Blanc is remarkably vivid. The decrease in Sémillon and a move towards larger format barrels are two of the recent developments with the Blanc. The blend is 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Sémillon and 10% Sauvignon Gris.