Wine Advisor
Climens 1995
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Chateau Climens. The 1995 Climens has a butterscotch, dried pineapple, kumquat and wax-resin bouquet that is well defined and now fully open for business. The palate is spicy on the entry, chamomile, cinnamon and brown spices, just a touch of dryness on the finish. But there is great depth here with a long barley sugar and spice finish. This is a fabulous Château Climens that is just beginning to enter its stride. Drink now-2035+ Tasted April 2009.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Chateau Climens. The 1995 Climens has a wonderful lifted nose with honey, orange-blossom, apricot and white peach. Superb definition. The palate is medium-bodied with superb balance and vigour: vibrant peach and apricot fruit, good acidity and weight towards the finish with hints of tangerine, grapefruit and spice. Great length, quite taut and offering more in the future. Superb. Drink now-2035+ Tasted April 2009.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1995 Climens has a lilting bouquet with lovely scents of wild honey, orange pith and white peach, a hint of saffron emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with good vigour, peach and apricot with a superb spine of acidity, building in weight towards quite a spicy, tangerine-tinged finish that lingers in the mouth. At its peak.
About the Producer
Château Climens is a wine producer located in the Sauternes village of Barsac on the left bank of the Gironde river, south of Bordeaux. It was classified as a first growth in the 1885 Classification of Sauternes and Barsac alongside other châteaux such as Guiraud and Suduiraut. Climens is one of only a handful of châteaux in Bordeaux that produces its wines from only one grape: Semillon. The wine is characterized by fresh citrus notes, white flowers and spice, which becomes more honeyed and concentrated with age. Semillon thrives on the limestone-rich soils in the vineyards. Botrytis develops on the grapes because of the misty mornings, humidity and warmer afternoons that are typical during the months before harvest. If the grapes are not of the highest quality, or if botrytis has not properly formed, owner Bérénice Lurton and her team will not produce their top wine, the grand vin Château Climens. They have been bold enough in the past to declassify an entire harvest of fruit – either selling the grapes off to other producers rather than bottling as their own or releasing wines under secondary labels. The grapes are harvested and brought into the winery, plot by plot, where they are gently pressed before fermentation in oak barrels. Maturation takes place in French oak barrels on lees for about 20 months. Wines from the best vintages can last decades – a recent tasting of the 1921 vintage revealed a rich, balanced and zesty wine. Château Climens has been owned by the Lurton family since the 1970s (when it was acquired by Lucien Lurton), and in 1992 the estate came under the control of Bérénice Lurton (his daughter). In 2010, Climens began to practice biodynamic winemaking and viticulture, and the 2014 vintage was the first to be entirely certified as biodynamic. Chemical sprays were replaced with natural preparations and plant infusions, from flowers such as chamomile and juniper which are grown on the estate and dried in the attics above the chais.
