Climens Vertical
Pasion, San Francisco, CA
Tasted Saturday, January 18, 2014 by aagrawal with 975 views
Introduction
A wonderful vertical tasting of Climens. My favorites were definitely the: 88, 07, 01 in roughly that order, though the 02 was a wonderful surprise and the 97 was wonderful to drink. Of the non-Climens, the 05 Fargues was superb... easily the best value in the tasting at $30. The 01 Coutet was wonderful as well. It started off with a very interesting green note and then evolved into a very well balanced, food friendly wine. Very enjoyable. I didn't pick it blind, but I enjoyed it anyway.
Flight 1 - 09 Climens, 07 Climens, 05 Climens, 05 Fargues (3 Notes)
I also brought the remainder of an 05 Fargues that I had Coravin'ed about a week ago. It was superb, and easily beat the 05 Climens. Note here:
2005 Chateau de Fargues
From 375.
Coravin 1/12/14: The lightest of this 01/03/05 lineup, this is solidly golden without nearly as much orange/copper in it; dense nose still solidly primary with tropical fruits, mango, minerality and classic fargues citrus/grapefruit is underneath and comes out with a bit of swirling; palate shows initially full body and great sweetness, immediately transitions to fabulous acidity that balances the sweetness (but no tingles as in very high-acid vintages), complexity that explodes on the palate with papaya, mango, lots of tropical fruit, wonderful persistence of fruit through the midpalate, freshness without much lightness; finish is medium-long. This is superb, young, classic Fargues in a richer style but still exquisitely balanced. A top-tier sauternes with a very long life ahead. Improved from my last half 2.5 years ago. 93-94++
Coravin 1/13/14: A surprising amount of orange marmalade on the nose, freshness as if in an icewine, bubbly acidity; palate is similar to yesterday, still very young with just a hint of coconut. Medium-long finish. Lovely.
1/18/14: Last from the bottle. Showing really well tonight. Wonderful complexity, comes across as very balanced, great fresh acidity, exciting to drink, flavorful. Easily beats most of the Climens in the vertical tonight. Wonderful value, and without the direct comparison to the 03 and 01, it doesn't come across as painfully young. 94-96
2009 Château Climens 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
From a half. Youthful, botrytis spice, tropical fruit, great complexity; rich palate and dense, tropical, balanced, vanilla and oak, very young; long finish. Surprisingly dense for a Climens, either the vintage or the more modern style? Still fun to drink, but needs lots of time. 92-93
1/23: Zalto dessert wine glass vs. Riedel Sauternes sommelier. Nose is richer in the Sauternes sommelier glass, more tropical fruit, more of the slight oak/vanilla. In the Zalto, it comes across as more minerally at first, with swirling more of the richness comes out but never to the same extent as in the Riedel. Palate in each glass is roughly the same, which is consistent with my notes from when the half was first opened. Finish is more minerally now, slightly lighter. The Zalto looks great and is a pleasure to use, but in this matchup the Riedel wins. The wine is roughly the same as when first opened.
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2007 Château Climens 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
From a half. Fresh, minerally, good complexity, slate; electrifying acidity, drying apricot fruits, long finish. Much better than the last bottle that I tried, and very promising for the future. 94-95+
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2005 Château Climens 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
From a half. Not too much on the nose, full, not very aromatic; opens up a bit with air but never shows as much as it should. Not flawed, but maybe closed? 88
1/19: Largely unchanged. Again, not flawed but not all that aromatic.
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