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Château Climens
The "Lord of Barsac" is now making dry wines. Château Climens, Premier Cru Classé since 1855 and renowned for noble sweet masterpieces, has been surprising since 2018 with a new generation: Lilium, Asphodèle, Petite Lily – all dry white wines made from pure Sémillon, from the same Demeter-certified limestone plateau. No oak aromas, no compromises, just pure terroir expression. A paradigm shift from Bordeaux.
More about Château Climens
The dry revolution
In 2018, Bérénice Lurton dared the unthinkable: a dry white wine from pure Sémillon, from the same Premier Cru terroir as the legendary sweet wine. Pascal Jolivet from Sancerre helped with the first vintage. Asphodèle was born – early harvest, stainless steel tanks, no added yeast, no oak. Crystalline purity that silenced Sémillon sceptics.
With Lilium, they went further: maturation in Wineglobes, 220-litre glass spheres that neither oxidise nor impart oak aromas. Silky texture, full elegance. Petite Lily makes entry accessible – fresh, uncomplicated, a Sémillon for every day.
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Asphodèle – mineral like a mountain stream[/caption]
30 hectares, one grape variety
What makes Climens unique: 100% Sémillon, whether sweet or dry. 30 hectares on a limestone plateau, a single block, the best drainage in the appellation. The minerality that emerges from this defines every wine – lively, vibrant, never heavy. At Huet on the Loire, you see the same consistency: one terroir, one grape variety (there Chenin Blanc), and from this emerge both great sweet wines and dry classics.
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Golden Sémillon grapes shortly before harvest[/caption]
From frost to new beginnings
Five years of frost, from 2017 to 2021, brought Climens to the brink of ruin – barely any grapes, no wine, no income. In 2022, Bérénice Lurton sold the majority to Jean-Hubert Moitry, but remains as a consultant. The dry wines, once an experiment, became the economic salvation. The first vintage under new management – 2022 – was celebrated by critics.
Biodynamics on limestone
Since 2010, Climens has worked biodynamically, Demeter-certified since 2014. Chamomile and juniper from their own cultivation, dried in the loft above the cellar. Sheep between the vines. The limestone plateau with its natural drainage makes it possible – where other estates struggle, Climens can do without pesticides.
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Sheep contribute to soil health[/caption]
You taste the result in every sip: precise, clear, lively. The "Lord of Barsac" has reinvented himself.