Wine Advisor
Climens 2006
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at Southwold ’06 Bordeaux tasting. The Climens ’06 is adorned with a rich nose with tangerine, apricot and barley sugar, with moderate concentration and perhaps not the delineation of the other Sauternes 06s. The palate is medium-bodied with a rounded entry, very peachy with touches of Clementine and tangerine, forward, generous but lacking the profundity one would expect. However, returning to my sample after thirty minutes, this is rapidly gaining more finesse, beautiful balance and a mellifluous texture leading to a very precise finish. Handle with care or cellar for 20+ years. Tasted January 2010.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Proprietor Berenice Lurton continues to turn out one of the utterly profound wines from the Barsac Sauternes region. The 2006 is not up there with their perfect 2001, but it is a beautiful wine and stands out as one of the top wines of 2006. Medium gold, with a slightly more advanced color than I am used to seeing in a young Climens, the wine displays waxy honeyed pineapple and delicate marmalade and citrus notes with a restrained use of new oak. The wine cuts a full-bodied swath across the palate with terrific acidity, freshness, and moderate sweetness. This is a beauty, but perhaps on a much faster evolutionary track than some of their greatest vintages.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Chateau Climens. A slightly lighter colour than the 2007. The nose has a tightly-coiled bouquet of tinned apricot and orange-blossom, with a hint of tangerine in the background. The palate has a rounded, sensuous entry, lovely texture and so cohesive. Perfectly judged acidity, tangerine and apricots in the background coming forth with aeration, then just a faint hint of ginger towards the finish. A great Barsac ’06. Gorgeous vanilla tinged aftertaste. Drink now-2036+ Tasted April 2009.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at the Sauternes 2006 ten-year on horizontal in Bordeaux. The 2006 Climens still feels youthful on the nose, a car revving its engine but yet to release the handbrake. The palate is medium-bodied with harmonious, honeyed marmalade and quince-tinged fruit, plenty of botrytis and perhaps here, a little more advanced than the aromatics. They will catch up in time to complete the gorgeous, quite ravishing yet tensile Climens from Bérénice Lurton and her team.
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.
