The 2016 Bordeaux vintage ten years on

[Comte Flaneur]

I broadcast my unrequited love for the 2016 Bordeaux in the summer of 2017:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7290&p=60325&hilit= ... aux#p60325

During lock down, during Covid, in 2020, with our virtual mailed tastings, the 2016s seemed to have shut down pretty hard, almost without exception. How are they now?

UK merchant Lay & Wheeler to their credit put on a 10 years on tasting last night. If one were cynical, one would say this was to kick start sales in a depressive, moribund, market, and this surely must have been a loss leader for them or the Bordelais given the modest £50 entry price. It was interesting that you could still get pours of Cheval Blanc and Mouton 15 minutes before the finish, which is perhaps a harbinger of the stasis in the Bordeaux wine market.

General impressions

Last night confirmed this is a brilliant vintage - everything in place - structure, acid, tannins, fruit from a solar - but not especiallly hot - year. From a drinking point of view this vintage is a work in progress. Most of the serious classed growths are years away from entering their plateau of maturity; some of the lesser wines are there, almost there, or getting close.

If one were to criticise the 2016s it would be in the harsh tannins that some left bank wines exhibit, which you would not find in a vintage like 2018. Carruades and D’Armailhac from the Rothschild stable would be examples. As would Ducru Beaucaillou, which did not show up. But the tasting did nothing to alter the impression that 2016 is still the standard bearer and strong contender for best ever Bordeaux vintage. It is a better vintage than anything that came before it.

Here are my impressions using an alphabetical scoring method for a change:

Poujeaux - B/B- … drink 2026 on

Clos Fourtet - B+/A- … drink 2028 on, 14,5%

Troplong Mondot - C- … last ever Rolland wine at this estate, 15.5%

Canon - A-/B+ … drink from 2030

Rauzan Segla B+/ A- … drink from 2030,

…which meant I slightly preferred the Canon to the RS…

Pavie - B/B- … still sadly overwrought-extracted

Figaec - A- … two pours, good but I preferred Cheval Blanc and Conseillante - from 2030 but can of course broach now.

Cheval Blanc - A/A+ … just brilliant, pure class and imperious - the pinnacle of the RB…2030 on

Belair Monange - a really slick operation, not denying the quality - A- … drink now sure, but better with 5 + years

Lafleur Petrus - while I admire the limestone minerailty of the new Belairs I slightly prefer the decadence of the LFP - A- … same as BM

Clinet - B+/A- … same again for window

L’Eglise Clinet - B+ … a couple of years ago I paid stupid money for some of this and I was underwhelmed - on a relative more than absolute basis - best from 2030

La Conseillante - my fave in 2017 and tops again in 2026 - really nailed it - A … now great, even better from 2030

Montlandrie - B. Nice wine and good qpr. Drink from now on.

DDC Blanc - herb garden - A- … now on

Pape Clement Rouge - overwrought B … 2030 on

Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge - outstanding A … now outstanding even better from 2030

Haut Bailly - second fiddle to SHL but good stuff A-/B+ - same

Les Carmes Haut Brion - if you like Cabernet franc B+

La Lagune - good but came across a bit rustic -B/B+ … no rush here - best from 2030:

Du Tertre - ready to go, B/B+ … from now

Giscours - B+ needs at least 5 years - 2030 on

Brane Cantenac - B+ needs 3-5 years - 2030 on

Clos du Marquis - B … quite harshly tannic 2030 at the earliest

Leoville Lascases - A … huge gulf between these two - the best super second in 2016 …2035 on

Lagrange - vgi - A-/B+ … 2030 on

Gloria - B+ … excellent - 2030 on

Branaire - B+ excellent - 2030 on

Langoa - B+ excellent - 2028 on

Leoville Barton B+/A- not a noticeable step up from Langoa - 2030 on

Leoville Poyferre - very good but again, as usual too contrived thanks to our late guru - B+….2030 on

Gruaud Larose - A- …fabulous, nearly there - 2028 on

Ormes De Pez - nowhere near ready, quite harshly tannic - B … 2030 at the earliest

Haut Batailley - B+ step up from ODP - 2028 on

Lynch Bages - very backward but as good as the Pichons - A- … 2035 on

Pontet Canet - a colossus - B+/A- … 2035 on

Pichon Lalande - A- … quite closed down still, 2035 on

Pichon Baron A- …I slightly preferred this to the Pichon Lalande - 2030 on

d’Armailhac - harshly tannic - B … 2030 on

Clerc Milon - B+ … 2030 on

Petit Mouton - B+

Mouton - A+ supreme, wotn … 2040 on

L’Evangile a bit easy and high in alcohol (14.5%) B+ … 2030 on

Carruades - harshly tannic next to Lafite a huge gulf between these - B … 2030 on

Lafite - perfect and like the Mouton imperious but this was a Pogacar Pidcock finish which Mouton won - A+ … 2040 on

Phelan Segur - B+ - 2028 on

Cos D’Estournel - A- … 2035 on

Montrose - A … 2035 on

Calon Segur A- … much more accessible than Cos or Montrose and unusually round and voluptuous (14%) … 2028 on

The Montrose was the pick of the St-Estephes but the Cos was sniffing up its tailpipe while the Rothschild duo and Cheval Blanc were the top three wines, followed by LLC and Conseillante.

[DavidG]

Tremendously useful report, Ian. Especially the drink window estimates. I’ve been starting to eye these for an early peek in on them. Most sound like it’s best to give them another 5 years. Thank you!

[Comte Flaneur]

David - I think the right banks are generally more approachable than the left banks, some of which still have somewhat aggressive tannins and clearly need considerably more time to resolve

[Nicklasss]

Many thanks for the report Ian. I agree about 2016, being one (the?) of the best modern vintage. Everything is there, with complexity, balance, and never completely shut down.

I have a few bottles of the ones you preferred… but i’ll wait a bit more before opening some.

The one i don’t have but would like too, is the Canon. And LLC of course.

[JimHow]

I've got 14 bottles of 2016 Mouton and 20 bottles of 2016 Lafite, mmm doggie. Another thing about the 2016 vintage is that the prices were/have been pretty rational, especially relative to the quality of the wines. To me it is as "complete" a vintage as I've seen in my career. Great update Ian!

[JCNorthway]

Thanks for sharing the experience, and your impressions. Useful guidance. Wish I had bought more when released.

[Jay Winton]

Very helpful Ian, I haven't really bought any classified Bordeaux in the past few years due to my 67 trips around the sun. I do have some 2016 La Lagune though.

[camiwine]

I loved the Figeac and LLC at that tasting, didn't had time to taste all of them wines though!

Nice to see your report on this

[stefan]

Excellent report, Ian.

I found

>>
d’Armailhac - harshly tannic - B
>>

troubling. Traditionally, d"Armailhac was usually the most approachable classified Pauillac when young, and provided a hint as to how its more exhalted neighbors would be later. Do you know whether Mouton has changed the style of d"Armailhac in recent years?

[Comte Flaneur]

stefan - I think this is a 2016 left bank thing more than a d’Armailhac specific issue. Other 2016 left banks revealing harsh tannins included Carruades and Clos du Marquis at the tasting on Tuesday and La Croix de Beaucaillou and Ducru Beaucaillou at a Ducru vertical in Nov 2024.

The new technical director at Mouton, Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, who oversees the winemaking at d’Armailhac and Clerc Milon too, is on record as saying he wants to create wines with greater precision at these two satellite estates and in the case of d’Armailhac maintain its early accessibility.

As I noted in my write up perhaps one criticism of the 2016 vintage is the harshness of the tannins on some left bank wines, which you would not experience in the 2018 vintage, or subsequent vintages for that matter. So perhaps tannin management was not nearly as sophisticated a decade ago as it seems to be now.

[stefan]

Thanks for the answer, Ian.

[Harry C.]

And a Pogacar Pidcock to you, Sir!

[greatbxfreak]

Ian,

Thanks for the update.

I purchased several of your favorites in the tasting, including Mouton Rothschild.

This vintage, imo, has an aristocratic feel.

[JimHow]

I think my tolerance for tannins is just a lot greater than the average Bordeaux wine enthusiast. I've never found the tannins in 2016 to be problematic, I had a divine bottle of 2016 d'Armailhac at l'Escargot restaurant in Bangkok the evening of the earthquake last year, I think I called it the best d'Armailhac ever. I've always felt one of the strengths of the vintage has been the fact that it has great structure without the overbearing tannins. It was one of the biggest traits of the 2016 Lafite that caused me to call that wine "the greatest wine I have ever tasted." Ironically, the one wine that I did think had bruising tannins was Ian's wine of the night Mouton. But that is the greatness of Bordeaux, it is a prism.

[Claudius2]

Ian
Very useful notes.
I have quite a lot of 16s including a handful of the wines you tried - but I didn't buy 1ers Crus from 2016.
Prices even en primeur were pretty crazy over here.
However, I have been eyeing them off at auction.

I'm finding that some of the 2016 petit chateaux are now showing okay, yet the tannins in some can be a bit bitter and that may not soften with age.
I also get the impression from your notes that the second wines, even of top estates, were nowhere near the quality of the Grands Vins.
As a general rule, I don't buy them.

Was there a general view of which bank was better??
I've tended to think of 16 as being a left bank/Pessac vintage and 15 for the right bank, but such generalisations can be misleading.

cheers
Mark

[Comte Flaneur]

"Was there a general view of which bank was better??"

No really Mark, both banks are very strong, though arguably the two top wines of the vintage are Mouton and Lafite, and Latour, only recently released, got peppered with perfect scores by the critics. And with three very strong super seconds - LLC, PLL and Montrose - you might say the left bank edges it. Against that I think the right banks are more approachable - they don't have the spikey tannins that some of the lefties exhibit.

[DavidG]

I think my tolerance for tannins is just a lot greater than the average Bordeaux wine enthusiast. I've never found the tannins in 2016 to be problematic

With you on both points, Jim, though I’ve had only a few 2016s since I do like them older than you. We even named our old tasting group from 40 years ago the Tannin Pigs.