Chateau Pape Clement Pessac-leognan 750ml

$203.79 $173.99 price per bottle

Producer Chateau Pape Clement in Pessac, near Bordeaux, is named after its most famous owner: Pope Clement V. Chateau Pape Clement is one of the Oldest Grands Crus de Bordeaux. It was in 1305, Bertrand de Goth, under the name of Clement V, entered in Avignon, a city he had chosen to install the papal court. Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Goth became Pope in 1305 under the name of Clement V. The estate took its name from this unique French Pope and its wine became an icon. Bertrand de Goth, appointed Archbishop of Bordeaux in 1299, received on this occasion the vineyards of La Mothe, property in Pessac. He managed the estate and made it bigger. Appointed in 1305 by the conclave to succeed Benedict XI, he became Pope under the name of Clement V. Because of his new position, he had then to give away the estate to the Archbishop of Bordeaux and took the name ”Pape Clement”. From this day, the estate has been well managed, with continuity and quality for almost five centuries, its limited production being reserved mainly for the use of the archdiocese. By the French Revolution, the estat, went in the public domain, with successful owners. Jean-Baptiste Clerc, who acquired Chateau Pape Clement in 1858 expanded the vineyard to 37 ha, and thanks to his bright management, strengthened the quality of wines which then come right behind the ones of Haut-Brion. At the end of the XIXth century, Chateau Pape Clement wines are sole at the same price as the 2nd Grands Crus Classes of Medoc. THE VINEYARD OF A POPE. Chateau Pape Clement, located in Pessac, near Bordeaux, owes its name to its most famous owner-Pope Clement V. Born in Villandraut in 1264, Bertrand de Goth was appointed Bishop of Comminges in the Pyrenees on 28 March 1295, a position he held until 1299, when he was appointed Archbishop of Bordeaux by the Pope. With his appointment, he received Pessac vineyard as a gift, then known as the “de La Mothe” vineyard (a name referring to its elevated terrain). The archdiocese’s archives provide a number of details about the Bertrand de Goth’s deep involvement in his vineyards and his constant search for the most rational and efficient equipment for both the vineyard and cellars. His work was continued by the Church whose efforts turned Pope Clement’s concern into a model estate. 5 June 1305, cardinals met in conclave in Perugia and elected Bertrand de Goth as successor to Pope Benedict XI, who died in 1304 after 11 months of reign. The new Pope adopted the name Clement V and chose Lyon for his coronation. In 1309, Clement V entered Avignon, the city he had chosen for his papal court, thus breaking with Rome, a hotbed of power struggles. From 1305 to 1309, the Pope continued managing his vineyard with all the care that made it so special. 12 December 1309, his papal duties prevented him performing this task and he decided to donate the estate to the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Arnaud de Canteloup. To Clement V, entrusting his vineyard to the Church of Bordeaux meant bequeathing it to eternity, while allowing Pape Clement’s vines to thrive over the centuries to come. During the long period that Chateau Pape Clement was administered by the Archbishop, modernism and technical progress made it a pioneering estate, one of the special features of which was its early harvest. We now know that the vineyard was one of the first in France where vine stock was planted in rows to facilitate tilling. This was tantamount to a horticultural revolution as plants had previously been scattered around plots. THE REVOLUTION AND THE CHALLENGES OF NATURE In the late18th century, the archdiocese of Bordeaux was dispossessed of its assets and the vine bequeathed to it 500 years previously fell into the public domain. Owners succeeded one another and, in turn, were forced to fight against the various scourges afflicting French vineyards at the end of the 19th century-powdery mildew, downy mildew and phylloxera. Among them was Jean-Baptiste Clerc, a wine trader from Bordeaux, who acquired the property in 1858, and turned it into a model vineyard. It was he who confirmed the renown and finesse of Pope Clement’s wines, and was rewarded with the gold medal from the Gironde Agricultural Society and the Great Medal from the Ministry of Agriculture at the World Fair of 1878, two highly coveted distinctions. It was also Clerc who built the chateau which was redesigned by the heirs of the subsequent owner, Monsieur Cinto, another Bordeaux merchant, producing the building we know today. 8 June 1937, a violent hailstorm destroyed almost the whole of Chateau Pape Clement’s vineyard and, in 1939, it was bought by Paul Montagne, an agronomic engineer, who, when the war finished, set about restoring it and reinstating it to the status it deserved. Thanks to these efforts, Chateau Pape Clement regained its radiance and managed to resist the onset of urbanization and the development of housing in a village where, at the start of the century, there were only two thousand inhabitants and fifty winegrowers. NEW IMPETUS In the 1980s, Bernard Magrez, an entrepreneur passionate about wine, took over the Chateau and built an unprecedented international reputation for the Grand Cru Classe. Ever since, Bernard Magrez has deployed every means possible to ensure that Chateau Pape Clement’s exceptional terroir continues to flourish through time and to express the finesse that has made its wines so famous. 2009 was an exceptional year, Chateau Pape Clement’s crowning glory, the year when it was awarded the legendary 100/100 score from the world-famous wine critic Robert Parker, writing a new page in the history of exceptional wines.