2016 Gruaud Larose 6 Pack

96 POINTS

Bettane & Desseauve - Bettane & Desseauve

Grande pureté aromatique, texture suave, immédiatement ouverte, plus précis et plus abouti que les meilleurs échantillons présentés par le passé. Un échantillon présenté au château Talbot, surboisé, pourra expliquer certaines critiques.

95 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter

This is well built and powerful, not exactly subtle, but then none of these wines are. Instead you get complex, layered and concentrated inky fruits, with some aniseed too. The balance and elegance of St-Julien comes in through the tailored and fine tannins on the finish, but while these tannins may be fine, there are lots of them. 80% new oak. Drinking Window 2024 - 2040

95 POINTS

James Suckling

Full-bodied, layered and juicy young wine. Very tannic yet ripe and intense. Powerful finish. This will be excellent. Better than the 2015.

94 POINTS

Neal Martin - Wine Advocate

The 2016 Gruaud Larose is a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc this year, picked between 29 September until 15 October (with the Petit Verdot) and matured in 80% new oak, the remainder one or two years old. The alcohol is a modest 13.02%. It has a generous bouquet with scents of blackberry, briary, a touch of sandalwood and tobacco, gaining more precision as it aerates in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, certainly one of the most finessed Gruaud Larose in recent years, with perfectly judged acidity. I love the focus here, a little understated at first but you cannot deny the intensity and precision on the finish. Moreover, this seems to be a slightly more detailed Gruaud, nuanced and long in the mouth. Excellent—and I suspect it might be a little more approachable than some of its peers.

94 POINTS

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW - Wine Advocate

The 2016 Gruaud Larose is blended of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with notes of red and black cherries, warm plums and freshly crushed blackcurrants plus hints of violets, oolong tea, aniseed and tilled soil with a waft of garrigue. Medium-bodied, the palate struts tons of elegantly fragrant red and black fruit flavors with a firm backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and loads of freshness, finishing long and perfumed.

93 POINTS

Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

Barrel Sample. This wine is rich and juicy, with fine tannins that come as much from the fruit as from the wood aging. It shows great promise for positive development.

93 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2016 Gruaud Larose has a surfeit of red berry fruit laced with rose petal and light crushed stone aromas on the generous, open nose. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins and underpinned by a fine bead of acidity. It comes across sedate and nonchalant, not determined to become the greatest Saint-Julien, but so supple and lithe that you cannot help falling for its charms. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.

93 POINTS

James Molesworth - Wine Spectator

This has a wide range of red currant, blackberry, black cherry and açaí berry fruit flavors forming the core, with a very sleek iron note lurking underneath it all. The finish uses a fine singed wood stitching to pull the fruit and minerality together. Lovely. Best from 2023 through 2038. 12,200 cases made.  –JM