Bordeaux wine

The vineyards of Pape Clémant today account for 32.5 hectares of the Pessac-Léognan vignoble, with three distinct terroirs across the estate as a whole. Over a limestone bedrock which originated in the Oligocene and Miocene eras, there are the gravels that typify the region as a whole, as well as areas of clay and sand.

The red vines, which cover 30 of the 32.5 hectares, are 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, the Cabernet Franc of Jean-Baptiste Clerc having long since disappeared. Here knowledge of the terroir is important, as the former variety is planted mainly to the gravelly areas whereas Merlot is selected for those soils with more clay. The majority of these vines have more than 25 years of age, and many are over 40.

The white varieties are 45% Sauvignon Blanc, 45% Semillon and 10% Muscadelle. Planting is quite dense, between 7 700 and 9 000 vines/ha depending on the individual plot, and some areas are grassed over between rows, especially where there are moisture-retaining clay soils where an increase in competition for water can be beneficial for quality of the fruit.

The wines are blended and then fed by gravity to the barrels where they undergo malolactic fermentation before élevage, up to 20 months for the reds and 12 months for the whites. The resulting grand vin is Chateau Pape-Clément, with about 7 000 cases of the red wine and as little as 350 of the white, and there are also second wine Le Clémentin du Pape-Clément and Le Prélat du Pape-Clément.