In the same ballpark as the 2011, the 2014 Château Climens reveals a similar gold hue as well as rich, powerful notes of honeyed almonds, caramelized peach, white raisins, toasted bread, and honeycomb. It’s more full-bodied and has a wonderful mid-palate to go with serious opulence and possibly more moderate acidity. Slightly softer and more seamless than the 2011 (and the 2015), it still has beautiful freshness and purity and another 25-30 years of longevity.

Pale lemon colored, the 2014 Climens reveals wonderful botrytis-inspired scents defining the nose with a core of ripe peaches, honeydew melon and lemon marmalade plus wafts of candle wax and orange blossom. The palate possesses an almost electric intensity with tons of layers and a lively backbone framing the generous fruit, finishing very long.

The 2014 Climens has to shake off a little reduction on the nose, eventually revealing dried honey, quince, apple blossom and caramelized pear aromas. The palate is very well balanced with a killer line of acidity that slices through the rich botrytized fruit. It fans out wonderfully towards the second, displaying great depth and concentration, genuine complexity that rivets you to the spot on the finish. Outstanding. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. - vinous.com, March 2018

Tasted blind. Intense apricot fruit with an attractive stone-dust impression, masses of almond paste. Crisp, clean and balanced, relatively simple at the moment and nicely fresh. (JH)