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Château Climens 1996

After my recent return to the 1996 vintage in Bordeaux, viewed through the lens of a couple of old friends, the 1996 Haut-Bailly and 1996 Talbot, I thought I should take a look at another aspect of this vintage, namely the region’s sweet wines.

The 1996 vintage is one I have followed and enjoyed since the wines were bottled and released, in the late 1990s. On a personal note, this was the first vintage in which I felt sufficiently flush to purchase a young wine in case quantities, and I learnt a lot from checking in on the 1996 from Château Cantemerle every few years. As you would predict if you have ever done similar, the last two or three bottles were easily the best of the lot. The experience cemented in place an understanding of the differences between young and mature (or maturing, anyway) Bordeaux, and underlined the realisation that I like the latter much more than the former.

That 1996 from Cantemerle demonstrated the wisdom of buying and cellaring the wines of the left bank in this vintage. After a mild winter and spring which prompted an early budbreak there came hot and dry weather in June, facilitating a rapid and largely homogenous flowering across the region. It was the rain which fell during August which first split the vintage. The classic left-bank appellations from Margaux up to St Estèphe were dealt a good hand, taking much less rain than St Emilion and Pomerol (which had four times more rain) and Sauternes (which had five times more). As a consequence the véraison in these parts was slow and stuttering, introducing heterogeneity into the vintage.

This left-right divide was exacerbated by the rather mixed conditions in September; while the weather was initially good, drying out the soils, vines and berries, more rain came midway through the month, just as the Merlot was due to be picked. This was a further setback to the vintage’s potential on the right bank, while the later-picked Cabernets on the left bank had time to dry out before they were subject to the secateurs, starting in early October. The die had been cast, and this would always be a vintage for the wines of the Cabernet kingdom, the left-bank appellations of St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux (and good ol’ Cantemerle, in the Haut-Médoc, of course).

Chateau Climens 1996

At this point we should remind ourselves that the requirements for a good vintage in Sauternes are different to the rest of Bordeaux, and for this reason the region always deserves specific attention. First, those August rains came as the skins were starting to thin, and even at this early stage there was botrytis and grey rot, the latter requiring some toilettage in the vineyard. The rain in September brought a little more botrytis, but it was not until October that things really got going. The first two tries in September were therefore rather light, but the later third and fourth tries in October brought in fruit that was richly botrytised and highly concentrated.

Although the wines were initially well received, with some claiming 1996 to be the best Sauternes vintage since 1990 (I am not sure this is at all true) I have never really been seduced by the 1996 vintage in Sauternes. The richness engendered by that late concentration often comes across in a rather fat style, the wines brimming with marmalade, satsuma and barley sugar notes, draped heavily over modest frames and sometimes incongruous acidity.

Putting the vintage into context, I have long thought 1995 to be its equal, if not superior. And as for the vintages that followed it is clear that there were superior wines made in 1997 and 1999. Indeed, I recall a tasting of Sauternes with Christian Seely maybe twenty years ago when he poured various young vintages of Suduiraut from this decade. Christian fixed me with a beady eye, his dotty bow tie gently spinning with mesmerising effect, as he murmured the hypnotic phrase “…in the 1990s, it is the odd vintages you should go for…”

He was right then, and he is still right now.

So what of the 1996 Barsac from Château Climens, revisited here at 28 years of age? It displays an obviously rich and burnished orange gold hue, with an emphasis on the burnished part, in the glass. The colour in the image above is a fairly decent representation of it, if a little dark (what can I say, the days are short here in Scotland at this time of year). Aromatically it showcases scents of liquorice, marmalade and barley sugar, relaxing to reveal satsuma, ginger and honey, with a vaguely crystalline frame to it. While the nose seems a little terse, the palate shows some generosity at first, and it maintains this rather plump presence through the middle and finish, supported by plenty of bitter grip which begins to dominate the palate though the middle and into the finish. Viscous yet taut and bitter, with punchy acidity, this has weight but perhaps lacks the integration and harmony I would really like to see. Nevertheless it remains an intriguing Barsac, showing undeniable class – it is Climens, after all – but also translating the nature of this vintage with integrity. I can see this holding on for a long time, with that confident acid backbone, but slowly drying out as it does so. Drink now or soon to see it at its best though. The alcohol declared on the label is 14%. 92/100 (25/11/24)

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