2016 Bordeaux Tasting Notes

WINE TALK
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Great event at the Cité du Vin last night: three Grands Crus Bordeaux of the great 2016 vintage from diverse appellations. Unfortunately Jeff was a dunderhead and got no photos of the wines, but my tasting notes follow (along with my notes tasting the 2016 Ch Gloria, which cork I pulled just a few minutes ago).

Château Malartic-Lagravière, Pessac-Léognan: Clear medium garnet; nose clean with medium+ intensity; dry, with medium+ acidity, medium+ tannin, medium alcohol, medium+ body, pronounced intensity. Aromas and flavors included cassis, blackberry, stone fruit, licorice, wood. Long finish of 30 seconds. Absolutely lovely without being a blockbuster. 93 points was my score. Don’t wait more than 5-10 years on this one, though.

Château Soutard, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé: Clear deep ruby; nose clean with pronounced intensity; dry, with with high acidity and tannin, alcohol just high, full body, pronounced intensity. Aromas and flavors included plums, bing and tart cherries, red apples and mint. Long finish in excess of one minute. 95 points; an outstanding wine with plenty of life yet.

Château Beychevelle, Saint Julien, 4th Grand Cru: Clear deep ruby; nose clean with pronounced intensity; dry, with high acidity and tannin, alcohol medium, full body, pronounced intensity. Aromas and flavors included cassis, blackberry, licorice, black pepper, vanilla, baking spices and just a touch of green pepper. Long finish matching the Soutard. 98 points to my way of thinking; this is a sexy beast indeed that looks to spend more time in the cellar.

Now for the Château Gloria pictured below: Clear deep garnet; nose clean with pronounced intensity; dry with high acidity and medium+ tannin, alcohol medium at 13.5 but feels a little “hot,” full body and pronounced intensity. Aromas and flavors include cassis, vanilla, freshly cut wood, cedar, cola, tart and bing cherry. Finish long but not to the standard of the Soutard or Beychevelle. If this weren’t just the slightest bit harsh and imbalanced it would score very highly indeed, but I can’t go higher than 94. Still really delicious and with long life ahead of it. What a great unclassed wine (though if you do a French Google search, its owners appear to call it classified).

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Final notes: 1. Tomorrow morning I head to the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGC) tasting and presentation of the 2023 wines. I’ll be taking public transit home.
2. I received my exam results from WSET Level 3 in London (March) and passed with Distinction. Hurrah!

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2016 Château Tournebrise

I’m unclear how I acquired this, but it was before I set up my CT account in 2020. I can’t imagine I paid much for it but it is certainly paying dividends.

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Pretty good stuff for 25 EUR. Deep ruby. Medium+ intensity on the nose. Aromas and flavors of blackberry, cassis, rhubarb, vanilla, freshly cut wood, mushroom, tobacco, leather. A bit out of balance with its quite high acidity, but well integrated tannins and medium finish put this in the 89 point region. Still eating lots of tuna poke with the high temperatures prevailing in Bordeaux at the moment; this is a good accompaniment.

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2016 is just a great vintage in the Medoc.

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Cool notes.

Any idea how '16 is on the right bank? I haven’t opened any.

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I’ve had a fair number of right-bank 2016s, and like J_Patrick_Lynch suggested with the Ch Tournebrise, they are like the left bank: excellent overall.