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Ranking with the top wines of the vintage, the dense purple-hued 2020 Château Pape Clement offers a sensational bouquet of pure crème de cassis interwoven with notes of liquid violets and classy oak. Possessing flawless balance, full-bodied richness, and ultra-fine tannins, it excels in this vintage and has a pretty, elegant, yet also layered and concentrated profile. It will drink well with just short-term cellaring yet evolve gracefully for 20-30 years. I was able to taste this on multiple occasions, and it always checked in near the upper end of the scale. This is a gorgeous wine in the making.Jeb Dunnuck | 97-99 JDDeep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Pape Clement comes barreling out of the glass with bold notes of cassis, plum preserves and licorice, giving way to scents of cedar chest, crushed rocks, charcoal and pencil lead. The medium to full-bodied palate is tightly coiled with beautiful tension and a firm, finely grained texture locking in the layers of black fruits and minerals, finishing with great length and energy. The blend this year is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot, aging mainly in French oak barriques, 66% new, with about 10% aging in large oak foudres. The wine will spend approximately 18 months in barrels.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96-98 RPSuperb aromas of blackberries, crushed stones, iodine and graphite. Full-bodied with ultra fine tannins and a balanced finish. Such length and beauty. Very close to the 2019 in quality.James Suckling | 97-98 JSThe 2020 Pape Clément is so impressive. Red cherry, plum, cedar, mint, tobacco, blood orange and rose petal all build as the 2020 opens in the glass. Vibrant and beautifully delineated, the 2020 has a ton to offer. The 2020 exudes purity, energy and breathtaking balance. It is one of the finest recent vintages I can remember tasting.Vinous Media | 95-97 VMThis ancient estate, an oasis in the suburbs of Bordeaux city, offers a wine that is packed with promising tannins. The important and rich black fruits reveal concentration, density and the potential of the development of a fine balance and structure as it matures.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE(Château Pape Clément, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, France, Red) Powerful in colour, this has the glass staining red and purple colours that Pape Clément does so well. Touches of liquorice and cocoa beans, well handled, this gives power with one hand but takes it away with the other as the austerity and fresh mint leaf comes to the fore. Impressive, a really enjoyable, classically wrought but still full of concentration Pape Clément. Savoury, there is nothing too exuberant in the fruits but it exudes deft confidence. (Drink between 2028-2044)Decanter | 94 DEC

Bright and perfumed with some chocolate, berry, sandalwood and cedar. Very elegant and fine, medium to full-bodied palate with very integrated tannins and refined, polished texture. The tannins melt into the wine. Long finish with serious structure. Vivid and refined. Class here. Very Bordeaux. 54% cabernet sauvignon, 42% merlot, 2% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot.James Suckling | 95-96 JSThe Grand Vin 2020 Château Phelan Ségur from director Véronique Dausse checks in as 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, and 2% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and this is the first time that blend has included all four varieties. Aged 18 months in 55% new French oak, its vivid purple color is followed by a gorgeous bouquet of pure cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as complex floral, spice, and crushed stone-like minerality. Medium to full-bodied and flawlessly balanced, with silky tannins, it’s an incredibly classy, seamless, elegant 2020 that shows the ripe yet classic style of this incredible vintage. It will evolve gracefully for over two decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 95 JDThe 2020 Phélan Ségur, which was picked 16 September to 1 October, and is the first vintage with four varieties in the blend i.e. Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot as well as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It fulfils the promise that it showed from barrel. Not quite as intense on the nose, yet it has retained that Pauillac-inspired allure thanks to those subtle pencil box and cedar scents infusing the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a cohesive, well-knit entry. Lovely texture, very pure, this is one of the most seductive Phélan that I can recall at this stage and I adored the classicism and graphite note that lingers on the aftertaste. Superb.Vinous Media | 94 VMClean and compelling, quite richly textured with bright black fruits but also savoury touches. This is brooding and you can feel the power and the concentration of the vintage. Ripe tannins remain prominent with spiced edges giving tension and linearity throughout. Forward, intense but detailed, nuanced and seductive. Feels well worked, salty and tangy. Give it time but this will have fans. So sleek and well controlled with bite. Lovely.Decanter | 94 DECFirm tannins, very much in the traditional style of Saint-Estèphe, give this wine an intense, concentrated structure. To balance this and in the new more open style from this estate, the wine also has fine fruits—black currants layered with acidity.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2020 Phélan Ségur is rich and generous, unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet berries, cherries and plums mingled with hints of violets and spices and framed by creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered, it’s a concentrated, structured wine underpinned by a chassis of generously extracted tannin that lends it a somewhat youthfully chunky profile.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPA sleek, taut, winey style, with a mix of red and black currant coulis notes that stretch out over hints of charcoal, tobacco and wet stone. Shows a sanguine echo through the finish, with nice range and character overall. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2024 through 2038. 150,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS