Chateau Pape Clement.
Firstly, Chateau Pape Clement is one of the oldest planted vineyards in the region, with the first harvests taking place around 1252. It was given to Bertrand de Goth when he became Archbishop of Bordeaux, by his brother as a present. Which was nice.
However, when he was voted Pope in 1305 and then had to give the vineyard away. He became Pope Clement V and the winery took its name from him, Pape Clement. Later Bertrand moved the papacy to Avignon. Now you know where Châteauneuf-du-Pape (The Popes New Castle) started. Every day is a school day with wine!
Once again, I was accompanied by good friend John for this visit. Our guide for the tour was Jeremy, a thoroughly nice chap. I have to say, the grounds were the most stunning thing about this chateau, closely followed by the price of some of the wine!
In particular, it was easy to see the investment in the winery. The fermentation room was very similar in look and style to Bodega Marques de Riscal, with gorgeous wooden fermentation tanks lining the room.
Fermentation Room
Big bottles! A normal size one is on the right, at the front.
The stunning pavilion in the picture below was designed by Gustave Eiffel. the grounds of this Chateau are truly a wonder!
1000-year-old olive trees make the 200-year-old cedar trees seem young.
Tasting at Chateau Pape Clement
We tasted 4 wines, 3 red and one white. They were all good, some however, were a little beyond my price range! I bought 2 bottles of the Alix (smaller picture) for about 10€ each. The Chateau Pape Clement was a better wine but for over 10 times the price, it was not 10 times better. But if money was no object, I’d go with it! That’s not to say the Alix was not good, we drank a bottle of it that night and felt very pleased!
For more adventures in Bordeaux wine see here
Click for details of Chateau Pape Clement
Booking.com
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