2016, still convincing

[Nicklasss]

Last night, it was a friend birthday, so we gathered at our place and had some wines. Quick notes:

2019 Fattoria La Rivolta Falanghina white : good wine in a dry and mineral salty style.

Laurent Perrier Extra Brut: no dosage, clean, bubbly, fresh, drink more esaily than the regular NV. Quite good.

2020 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg: nice, nice and nice! Perfect nose of lemon, lime, mineral, oil, wax, and white flowers. Clean, precise, Grand Cru Schlossberg expression. So balanced, so much élégance. The perfect image of the Faller women.

2016 Frank Phelan: second of Phelan Segur. While no default, very nice merlot/cabernet from St Estèphe, very light in mouth. Very quaffable, but was expecting more.

2016 La Chapelle de Lafon Rochet: this was quite better. Lot of blackberries, light oak, mineral, and that black earth minerals. Light black chocolate. Convincing for a second wine.

2016 Château Cantemerle: very nice expression of Cantemerle and 2016. Lasr night, was not far from the 2010. Blackcurrants concentrate, rasberries, violet flowers, light spicy oak, earth. Long, perfumed in mouth, good tannins. Stays very claret. Drinking that, i really thoight i needed some more.

I'm still very convinced by the 2016, way more than by 2018.

[William P]

I agree Nic. 2016 is a cellar cornerstone.

Bill

[Chateau Vin]

I agree... 2016 is a cellar vintage to my liking.

2019 is the vintage that I bought without tasting any, but I think they will also show well...

[Blanquito]

I didn’t buy much from 2016 alas. 2005 was my last big across-the-board vintage buy, though somehow I ended up with a bunch of 09 as well.

[DavidG]

I have more 2016s than any other year.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePXck9H1pI

[Tom In DC]

...though somehow I ended up with a bunch of 09 as well.

Snort!

[AKR]

Wow. A sneak peak at this powerful year.

I've only seen 'Franck Phelan' once, via a website, in the US. It was the 2003 and I was sorely tempted to order it, and try to coax my sister to schlep out to the wherever it was in Cupertino, to retrieve it.

However, her patience for what I might frame as 'hey do you want to play a scavenger hunt game with me' has worn thin over the years. Even if she worked in that strange circular building, not so far from the shop, at least by my Googling.

[Claudius2]

Guys
I rate 2016 above 2009 and 2010 based on the various wines I have tried.
2016 wines are more complete and classical. There is heaps of fruit but a tight, complex structure that is typical only of the best vintages.

Despite my liking of 2019, I don’t expect any recent vintage will trump 2016.

Having said that, I have more 09s and 10s than I really need and wonder why I bought 30 odd cases of 2010 alone. Actually there are some logistical reasons and currency issues - including the fact that I sold off most of my older wines in Australia and was, err, simply replacing them.

Cheers
Mark

[Musigny 151]

Not tasted a single bottle of 2019, although a couple, Montrose and a half of Pichon Lalande are on the chopping block.

I agree 2016 is probably better than 2010 and the less consistent 2009. There are some great 2009s and a superb Montrose, but I keep finding 2010 as the more interesting vintage, while with 2016, I have yet to find a clunker. I would add the Mouton 2016 is on a very short list of one of the finest young wines I have tasted, but is now going through a dumb as Marjorie Taylor Green phase. Unlike Taylor Green, I expect it to emerge better, while her trajectory is ever downwards.

[JimHow]

My 2014/15/16 breakdown:

2016 23.8% Bottles (204)
2015 13.9% Bottles (119)
2014 28.3% Bottles (242)

[Claudius2]

Jim
I have only a dozen or two 2014s and I should have bought more. I also have few 15s and seem to either have too many (eg, 2009, 2010 and maybe 2019) or too few (2014, 2015).

The storage units are rather unbalanced but in Australia they were overloaded with 95, 96, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005. Alas I only have a small number of these now.
Cheers
Mark

[JimHow]

Gerry M and I went crazy when New Hampshire had some pretty insane deals on 2014s a few years back.
2014 is one of my favorite vintages. It is a JimHow kind of vintage.

[Claudius2]

Jim
I’d say it is a classic Bordeaux vintage which we don’t always see these days. Having said that, so is 2016 though that is a more powerful vintage.