The DBs: Bordeaux 2016 In Bottle

BY NEAL MARTIN | JANUARY 24, 2019 

Left Bank: Margaux | Pauillac | Pessac-Léognan | Saint-Estèphe | Saint-Julien

Right Bank: Pomerol | Saint-Émilion | Sauternes

Introduction

June 17, 2016. Noon. I’m driving past the cypress trees that line the driveway of Trotanoy when somebody flicks a switch and the pitter-patter of raindrops turns into a downpour straight out of the Old Testament. I hit the brakes and pull over, since I can no longer see out of the windscreen. I wouldn’t wish to go careering into a row of sacred Cabernet Franc. It has rained constantly for six months, some 700mm thus far in 2016, and as a consequence the ground is saturated down to the Earth’s core. It takes moments for choked drains to belch turbid brown rainwater back to the surface, upon which it streams across the road into already flooded sectors of vineyard. I manage to take a short video on my smartphone in order to record the possible end of Pomerol; it can be a coda for the second edition. Further on, where the lane descends towards the lower reaches, there is already at least 18 inches of water, and yonder, a winemaker waves for me to reverse back. Waiting for the deluge to abate, I gaze at the vines, some thigh-deep in muddy water, and reflect upon the weather these last few months. No doubt about it: the 2016 vintage is going to be a write-off. Get the newspaper presses rolling with the headlines now…

How was I to know that three days later, the sun would come out and never really go back in?

Looking back over 20-plus en primeurs, some stick in the memory more than others. Great vintages – and by that I mean truly great and not the Bordeaux definition that translates as “forthcoming” – are lodged at the forefront of my mind. I remember the heady aromas of the Right Bank 1998s from barrel, the density of the 2000s that stained my teeth purple and the pedigree of the maturing 2005s. I will not forget the sumptuous 2009s that made that primeur so enjoyable, or the classicism and girder-like tannins of the 2010s that made for an arduous but rewarding tasting from barrel.

Likewise, I shall always remember my first impression of the 2016s: their elegance, purity and poise, the intensity of fruit, the articulation of respective terroirs, and that oft-forgotten virtue, how bloomin’ delicious they tasted. My overriding feeling was that Bordeaux had been heading towards the 2016 vintage since the late 1990s. It was a year when everything just came together at the right moments. And let’s not forget, it was a year when Bordeaux enjoyed more than its fair share of luck compared to other French wine regions, such as Burgundy and the Loire.

In recent months I have tasted some 2016s just after bottling during château visits, though in my experience it is wise to wait a few weeks so that the wines can brush themselves down after being evicted from cosy barrel into glass prison. These fleeting encounters augured a stunning vintage, but confirmation would only come once I began tasting en masse in December. There was but one question to ask:

Does the 2016 Bordeaux vintage deliver on its promise?