Chateau Climens

Chateau Climens has a distinctive appearance, with the single-level villa flanked by rectangular towers on the two sides, each of those topped by a slate pyramid for a roof. It has a lengthy history, but viticulture did not start until the 17^th century. In the early days it was owned by the Roborel family, with Jacques Roborel first purchased land within the commune of Barsac.

When his son Guirault Roborel purchased the lieu-dit known as Climens Oli in 1547 the story of Chateau Climens really started. The name probably was originated from the poor quality of the soil, which was expressed as climens in an ancient local dialect.

In those days the chateau produced both red and white wines, as part of the traditional Graves style, in the 27 hectares of vineyards up to the latter of the 18^th century, surviving the Revolution. It was soon sold however following the death of Jean-Baptiste Roborel in 1800.

Jean Binaud was the new owner, and contributed to the construction of the chateau as described, with the towers actually added afterwards, apparent from the different style. In 1835 it was sold to the Lacoste family, who replanted the vines and got the estate classified as a premier cru in the 1855 classification.

Eloi Lacoste, a well-known negociant and mayor of Barsac from 1844 to 1860, sold the estate to Alfred Ribet in 1871, during which the property was failing, with only a portion of the vineyards was in production. The arrival of phylloxera made it worse and in 1885 Ribet sold the estate to the Gounouilhou family.

Henri Gounouilhou was a publisher of a local newspaper, who got a connection at Doisy-Dubroca through marriage to Marguerite Dubroca, and he decided to purchase Chateau Climens in 1885. Henri and his descendants worked hard to fight phylloxera and oidium, replanting the vineyards and restoring the Semillon dominance.

He also repaired and refurbished the chateau, bringing a golden age to Climens, with the property growing in size and reputation, rivaling d’Yquem in some vintages on quality and price. Henri died in 1913, passing the estate to his widow and later his son Marcel, but ultimately it was sold to Lucien Lurton.

Lucien was head of the Lurton family who already owned Brane-Cantenac and Durfort-Vivens, in 1971, and he acquired both Climens and Doisy-Dubroca at about the same time, when Sauternes were neglected by drinkers for red Bordeaux. Since 1992 the estate has been under Lucien’s daughter Berenice, who took over the property aged just 22 years.

Under her rein some significant changes were made, including better tracking of fruit from plot to plot, facilitating understanding of vineyard and selection in future. A sorting table was also introduced at harvest time. She also traveled worldwide to show her wines, and in 2008 she was elevated to the position of president of Les Grands Crus Classes de Sauternes & Barsac in 2013.

Chateau Climens sits on the highest point of the Barsac appellation, although it is only 20 metres above sea level, with 29 hectares of one continuous vineyard surrounding the chateau, but divided into 20 different parcels. The soil is the typical clay over ferruginous sand in Barsac, sitting on deeper limestone.

Unusually the estate is entirely devoted to Semillon, with a planting density of 6600 vines per hectare, at average 35 years of age. There is a program of actively replanting vines, with biodynamic practices and the estate was certified in 2011. The harvest is brought in by a number of tries, normal for the region, with the picking berry by berry.

The yield is low, which can drop to single digits for Climens and some vintages have as low as 9 hl/ha. The grand vin is Chateau Climens, which is typically just harvested at 7 hl/ha, showing the selection and concentration of the must. The second wine is Cypres de Climens, with typical yield at 13 hl/ha.

The fruit is pressed and fermented in barrel without addition of yeast, with each tri and plot vinified separately under temperature control, arrested by chilling. The process is overseen by Frederic Nivelle, and the wine is aged in barrels about one-third new, for up to 22 months.

The wine will undergo selection and blending throughout the process, to determine which plot to go to for the grand and second wine, with the rejected sold off in bulk. In bad years all the wine will be sold off without making any grand and second wine, like in 1984, 1987, 1992 and 1993. The bottling is done without filtration, with typical production of 3000 cases per annum, two-third being grand vin.

I have recently tasted the 2005 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it is of deep intensity gold color, with long legs.

Nose

Clean, with pronounced intensity aromas of stone fruit of apricot, maturity notes of honey, oak notes of butterscotch and caramel, dried fruit of raisin, citrus fruit of orange marmalade and lemon, sweet spice of cloves. The wine is developing.

Palate

Sweet with medium (+) acidity, the wine has medium alcohol and full body, with pronounced intensity flavors of citrus fruit of orange peel, stone fruit of apricot, oak notes of butterscotch, maturity notes of honey, sweet spice of cloves. The wine has a medium (+) finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality Barsac with an extremely intense nose showing highly complex characters, the wine is sweet but balanced well with the acidity, making it refreshing and not cloying at all. The palate is equally impressive with good concentration and complex, at the same time having a very long finish. A good indication of how well a dessert wine can be. It is ready to drink now though can further develop for another 8-10 years.