Climens Turns Dry, June 2025
Perhaps the greatest upheaval in the world of Sauternes and Barsac in recent times has been the sale of Château Climens. Arguably the leading château in the Barsac appellation, one which had been in the hands of the Lurton family for five decades, Climens was one of the very few potential challengers to the hegemony of Yquem. The 2001 vintage was a case in point; a vinous tour de force which challenged in terms of quality, and the early release prices seemed a little closer to Yquem’s than to the more commonplace Sauternes and Barsac peers.
Integral to the Climens success story was the scrupulous and visionary direction of Bérénice Lurton. Having taken the reins in 1992, aged just 22 years, she instituted a quality revolution on the estate; the wines were better than ever, cementing in place an already strong reputation. Along the way she adopted, with advice from consultant Corinne Comme, biodynamics in the vineyard.
I recall a visit to the property soon after the conversion to see the tisanerie, the preparation and storage area for all their plant preparations, which was located on the first floor above the cuverie and barrel cellar. Piles of drying leaves, bark and plants – nettles, bay leaf, horsetail, willow and more – were lined up against the wall with regimental regularity, while trays of orange geranium petals sat drying in the sunlight which streamed through the open windows. Almost all the plants had been harvested from the estate, or nearby; it was clearly a significant undertaking.
Tragically for Bérénice, this all came tumbling down when a string of disastrous vintages pushed the property to the brink of ruin. Frost in 2017 wiped out the crop, while in 2018 there was rampant mildew, and while the harvest was of a good volume the perfectionist Bérénice could not find the quality in the vintage to produce a grand vin. After a good 2019, in 2020 the crop was destroyed by a catastrophic hailstorm. The frost which returned to the region in 2021 was the final straw; to not produce any grand vin in four vintages out of five is simply not viable, and in 2022 she was forced to accept outside investment in the estate.
