Château Pape Clément

Château Pape Clément is one of the oldest Grands Crus in Bordeaux, with a first grape harvest in 1252. Its vineyard was established that year by the Goth family, whose youngest, Bertrand de Goth (1264-1314), became Archbishop of Bordeaux and then, in 1305, Pope Clément V. The estate was originally known as La Mothe; when de Goth became pope and took the name Clément V, he changed its name to Pape Clément. In 1937 a violent hailstorm almost destroyed the vineyard. A modern vinification cellar was built in 1984, and a second wine, Le Clémentin, was introduced in 1986. Bernard Magrez has owned Château Pape Clément since 1985; it was his first vineyard. A replanting programme in the vineyard started in 1990, and the wooden vat room was redesigned in 2007.

• 1252: first grape harvest; the vineyard was established by the Goth family.
• 1305: Bertrand de Goth became Pope Clément V and renamed the estate, originally La Mothe, Pape Clément.
• 1937: a violent hailstorm almost destroyed the vineyard.
• 1985: Bernard Magrez became owner; the second wine, Le Clémentin, followed in 1986.
• 1990: start of the vineyard replanting programme; 2007: the wooden vat room was redesigned.

Bernard Magrez owns Château Pape Clément along with three other Grands Crus Classés in Bordeaux: Château La Tour Carnet in the Médoc, Château Fombrauge in Saint-Émilion and Clos Haut-Peyraguey in Sauternes. At 23 he created his first company, William Pitters International, and later sold his brands to turn to the Grands Crus Classés. Eric Larramona was appointed manager of Château Pape Clément in 1999. Magrez drew on the advice of consultant oenologist Michel Rolland.

• Owner: Bernard Magrez, since 1985.
• Other Magrez Grands Crus Classés: Château La Tour Carnet, Château Fombrauge, Clos Haut-Peyraguey.
• Eric Larramona: appointed manager in 1999.
• Michel Rolland: consultant oenologist whose advice Magrez drew on.

The estate lies in Pessac and belongs to the Pessac-Léognan appellation, within the wider Graves wine area. Its nearest vineyard neighbour is Château Haut-Brion, yet Pape Clément runs a week later in its ripening cycle. As of 2015 the vineyard covered 32.5 hectares of gravelly sand and clay, and Eric Larramona has pointed to a more diversified terroir ‘with four types of soil’. The vineyard is managed parcel by parcel, with integrated pest management, debudding, removal of side shoots, green harvesting and tillage with animal traction; for the white wine, the rows are worked with oxen and horse-drawn ploughing. The vineyard holds the Terra Vitis label and the HVE level 3 (High Environmental Value) label. Since 2021, Deep Planet, a start-up in the Bernard Magrez incubator, has studied vine health and soil dryness on the estate's blocks using data from the Sentinel 2 satellite.

• Commune of Pessac, Pessac-Léognan appellation; nearest vineyard neighbour Château Haut-Brion.
• 32.5 hectares of gravelly sand and clay (2015).
• Ripening runs a week later than at Haut-Brion.
• Terra Vitis and HVE level 3 labels; tillage with animal traction.
• Satellite study of vine health and soil dryness with Deep Planet since 2021.

For the red grand vin, grapes are harvested by hand into small crates and sorted first in the vineyard, then destemmed by hand berry by berry and sorted on a table before moving by gravity into 30 to 70 hl wooden vats. Vinification includes a low-temperature pre-fermentation maceration, manual punching down and a maceration of 30 to 40 days; the wine is run by gravity into French oak barrels, where it goes through malolactic fermentation and ages for 18 months in 70% new barrels. The wooden vat room holds 28 vats, each corresponding to plots of different ages planted with different grape varieties. The white is pressed as whole berries under an inert atmosphere, fermented in French oak barrels and aged on its lees for 16 months in oak, with 15% of the wine aged in an egg-shaped concrete tank. With the 2001 vintage, grapes for the grand vin were hand picked and then hand destemmed by 120 sorters over 13 days.

• Red: hand harvest, berry-by-berry hand destemming, 30 to 70 hl wooden vats, 30 to 40 day maceration.
• Red élevage: malolactic fermentation in barrel, then 18 months in 70% new barrels.
• White: whole-berry pressing, barrel fermentation, 16 months on lees in oak, 15% in an egg-shaped concrete tank.
• Vat room of 28 vats matched to plots, redesigned in 2007.

The range comprises Château Pape Clément red, the Grand Cru Classé de Graves, and Château Pape Clément white, an AOC Pessac-Léognan; the second wine, Le Clémentin de Pape Clément, in red and white; and L’Âme de Pape Clément, red and white, under the Graves appellation. The red grand vin blend is 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, and the white is 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Sémillon and 10% Sauvignon Gris. Le Clémentin red is 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and Le Clémentin white is 75% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Sémillon and 5% Muscadelle. Bernard Magrez's shop also lists Reconnaissance à Bertrand de Goth Futur Pape Clément V in red (1,500 copies) and white (1,200 copies).

• Château Pape Clément Rouge: Grand Cru Classé de Graves; 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc.
• Château Pape Clément Blanc: AOC Pessac-Léognan; 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Sémillon, 10% Sauvignon Gris.
• Le Clémentin de Pape Clément: second wine, introduced in 1986, now made in red and white.
• L’Âme de Pape Clément: red and white, AOC Graves.

Château Pape Clément is a Grand Cru Classé de Graves, classified for its red wine only. The Graves classification dates from 1959; its châteaux hold a single grade, cru classé, and thirteen were classified for their reds in 1959. In Decanter, James Lawther MW called Pape-Clément ‘unashamedly rich and extrovert’ and judged the red at its best at around eight to 20 years, with only exceptional vintages worthy of longer cellar time.

• Grand Cru Classé de Graves (red only), in a classification dating from 1959.
• James Lawther MW (Decanter): ‘unashamedly rich and extrovert’; at its best at around eight to 20 years.

In James Lawther MW's Decanter profile, the reds are ‘deeply coloured, rich and full’ with a powerful structure. For the white, Eric Larramona told Decanter the estate was ‘looking for complexity, elegance and ageability’ and wanted ‘to stay clear of anything overtly marked by Sauvignon Blanc’. Bernard Magrez put his approach this way: ‘I’m prepared to go to extremes in order to maximise our terroir.’

The château, at 216 avenue Dr Nancel Penard in Pessac, offers tours and tastings, including a tour in the footsteps of Pope Clément with a tasting of three wines, as well as guest rooms and suites. Its gardens grow about 600 varieties of plants and trees, including thousand-year-old olive trees and a Cedar of Lebanon planted during the Revolution.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en, https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en/les-vins, https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en/savoir-faire, https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en/bernardmagrez, https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en/anticipation-changement-climatique-espace, https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en/table-du-chateau, https://www.chateau-pape-clement.fr/en/visites-ateliers. Owner group site: https://bernard-magrez.com/en/collections/vins/grands-crus-classes/chateau-pape-clement/. Secondary sources: Decanter, https://www.decanter.com/wine-travel/chateau-pape-clement-67667/ (Decanter Staff, last updated 28 May 2015), https://www.decanter.com/features/pape-clement-a-graves-classic-248480/ (James Lawther MW, last updated 8 April 2020) and https://www.decanter.com/features/bordeauxs-graves-region-oversight-247234/ (James Lawther MW, last updated 5 June 2020). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.