Community Tasting Note
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Motz wrote: 90 points
January 27, 2021 - Another attempt to understand the hype surrounding this vintage: Take One.
Over two days, alongside the same vintage Lafon-Rochet.
Unsurprisingly, this features a loud bouquet of purple flowers and tart and sweet purple fruits and berries, notably blackberry, the signature fruit of this vintage in my experience. The bouquet also shows traditional Left Bank markers of pepper garden, roasted coffee beans, lit tobacco, graphite, and hints of mint. Oak, by no means over-the-top, but certainly somewhat heavy, also shows throughout. The signature bouquet element of most 2016 Left Bank offerings I have experienced is what I describe as blackberry cream, the cream being predominantly oak imparted.
The wine tastes exactly like it smells, with all elements rolling relentlessly forward on the attack and early middle...and then...nothing happens. Great vintage Left Bank Bordeaux should reveal its true character at the middle and back. That is, acid, tannin, and deep, terroir-driven substance should make their presence known at the middle, explode at the back, and hold form throughout the finish. Instead, this, like so many others in this vintage, only passes the flavorful, blackberry cream profile from attack to finish.
In most wines of this vintage that I have tasted, the winemaker's have used heavier than normal extraction techniques, which tends to enhance the bouquet, and can, to the uninitiated, masquerade as substance, particularly tannin. The downside of heavy extraction, of course, reveals itself as an astringent or chalky bite at the back. This wine also shows plenty of that.
No change on the second day, and overall, plain boring!
In sum, the bold aromas and flavors of 2016 Left Bank wines cannot be disputed. The presence of true substance, however, can, and should be. Loud bouquets and pronounced blackberry cream elements do not make Bordeaux great. Depth does.
This does not pack the substance to age beyond ten or twelve years from vintage date. For different reasons, I made the same call regarding the 2009 vintage, and in my experience, many of those wines have peaked or are peaking.
If fruity flavor matters more than substance, this will satisfy. A problem with pro-hyped, Left Bank vintage Bordeaux on account of flavor, is wallet thinning. Equal flavor can be had in many other wines from around the world for much lower prices of admission.
Parkerization be damned!15 people found this helpful 10,055 views
9 Comments
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Portland Seth commented:
1/27/21, 7:28 AM - Excellent analysis! Are you a fan of the '14 version of this wine? I found it nearly undrinkable, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the superior wine 15+ years from now. Since I've only been cellaring for a few years it's hard for me to imagine that far into the future.
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Léognan commented:
1/27/21, 12:35 PM - Thank you, Motz! You said Meyney alongside with Lafon Rochet 2016! No significant difference between the two wines?
And yes, the 2014 is developping very slowly, indeed he was almost undrinkable at the very beginning, amazing nose, but nearly unapproachable on the palate. Better now and even more in the future... -
Motz commented:
1/28/21, 6:33 AM - Good morning to you both. I just reread my note on the 2014 Meyney. A big wine, huge even, which shows excessive manipulation, but is also strapping, packed with tannic and mineral substance. I have high tannin tolerance, thus, I understand that vintage's relative unapproachability. This noted, the wine maker's heavy-handed techniques may cause it to turn pedestrian after a few years. Older vintages, such as 2005, were made quite traditionally, my preference.
I just entered a note on the Lafon-Rochet.
Cheers! -
ThomasB99 commented:
1/28/21, 6:25 PM - I'm struggling with the 2016 vintage as well. Had a 2016 feytit pomeral the other day and was practically assaulted by the tannins. It did calm down after 3 days but not a lot of character after that. Any insight on 2017s or 2018s?
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Motz commented:
1/30/21, 6:18 AM - I have just started tasting higher quality 2017s. The Giscours is stunning. I am concerned about 2018, which show high alcohol and a lot of fruitiness. I have not tasted any higher quality wines though.
Cheers! -
Guillaume-en-égypte commented:
3/22/21, 12:25 PM - Great analysis & I def. agree with your final statement! I hope you are wrong on this, as I bought a full case of 24 halves after reading Jancis et al...and the price being good.. Still hoping, but not now expecting, that some more years in bottle will leave me with a case of serviceable St. estephe
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Motz commented:
3/22/21, 4:52 PM - Serviceable, certainly, but also modern and boring. I wish I had something better to report.
Cheers! -
thewineoceros commented:
10/1/21, 3:46 PM - These wines are built for the long haul. Keep at it folks, and taste again after 10 years 2026 at least. The tightness now will unfurl and soften and become one of the great treats if you can hang in there. The 10s are already showing a bit, so put these 16s out of reach for a bit and enjoy your 12s and 14s instead if you have few. 🍷
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Motz commented:
10/9/21, 11:26 AM - Hello thewineoceros: Most 2016 Bordeaux, particularly compared to the 2010 vintage, are not tight. Rather they are open knit, fruit forward, and light on tannin and acid. Most of these wines will not last beyond 10 to 15 years. Put differently, 2016 Bordeaux is not comparable to 2010, or 2005, and not even to 2014 (which did not get big press from the Parkerized, group-think, professional wine marketers...oops...I meant reviewers (or did I?))...regardless of what the same group has written about the 2016 vintage. In general, I agree with your remark about 2012, which, though traditional, did not pack the long term punch of more renowned vintages, or, again, of 2014.
To each their own. This noted, relying on the overwhelmingly international-style-leaning pro marketers...(there's that word again), to determine the quality of any given Bordeaux vintage, will result in disappointment, and seemingly constitutes something other than: 'to each their own.'