Château Climens, 2017 Update
The following wines were tasted at Château Climens during a visit to the estate earlier this year. After tasting multiple components of the 2016 vintage from barrel with Bérénice Lurton (pictured below), as described in my 2016 Sauternes & Barsac report, I moved on to taste some other recent vintages from bottle. This I did with Frédéric Nivelle, the longstanding technical director at Château Climens. Having been here since 1988 he knows pretty much every corner of the vineyard and cellars; rumour has it he has Climens running in his veins.
The Wines
I tasted a neat half-dozen wines, starting with two vintages of the rarely encountered second wine, Cyprès de Climens. There are some noteworthy yet frequently overlooked second wines in Sauternes and Barsac, and this cuvée is surely one of that number. While both the 2015 and 2014 vintages displayed immediate appeal, I would certainly go for the 2014 if given a choice between the two, as I admire its combination of evolving complexity with the succulent, vibrant acidity that marks the vintage.
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