1996 Chateau Climens Barsac

(92 Points) The 1996 Climens is a very lovely bottle of wine, but it can not quite match the complexity of a more heavily botrytized vintage such as 2005. The very lovely bouquet is a blend of pineapple, lemon oil, honeycomb, chalky soil tones and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, racy and long, with a nice core of dried orange fruit at the core, sound acids and good length and grip on the finish. It is odd that the 1996, with nine more years bottle age, shows less complexity than the 2005, but this is probably just a reflection of superb the 2005 vintage is in Barsac. I would give the 1996 Climens just a few more years to fully blossom and then plan to drink it over the ensuing twenty-five or thirty years.  John Gilman, Review Date: 09/2009