Chateau La Grave a Pomerol 2016
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James
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Robert
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Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Rich and concentrated black cherry is joined by raspberry puree, liquorice, tobacco and soft leather. This is a beautiful Pomerol, where the tannins are vibrant but you barely notice them until they hold you back from leaving, seatbelts holding you in place. Gorgeous.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe, polished and youthful strident, this sports a solid core of plum and cassis detail that is well-enmeshed with roasted apple wood, black licorice and sweet tobacco notes. The juicy finish has latent grip, with a great graphite edge, as it moves through with authority. For the cellar. Best from 2023 through 2036.
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Wine Enthusiast
A dense wine with ripe tannins. The fruit is there, although buried in the firm structure. It's good for the long term.
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James Suckling
This has some attractive depth to the fruit aromas with ripe dark plums and berries, swathed in herbs and dark chocolate. The palate has a plush, long and dense core with assertively fluid tannins, delivering a luxuriant, fresh finish. Try from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 la Grave is a blend of 96% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc. It has a medium to deep garnet-purple color and features notions of black and red plums, baked cherries and crushed blackberries with hints of vanilla pod, milk chocolate and cardamom plus a waft of underbrush. Medium-bodied, soft and plush, it delivers bags of warm red and black fruits with plenty of spicy accents and a long savory finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Château La Grave comes from a 19-acre vineyard of gravelly, clay soils and is mostly Merlot with 4% Cabernet Franc. It offers a classic Pomerol bouquet of dark cherry and currant fruits intermixed with notions of damp earth, truffle, tobacco leaf, and cedar. This is followed by an incredibly elegant, seamless red that has nicely integrated acidity, beautiful balance, and the purity of fruit that's the hallmark of the vintage. Drink it any time over the coming 15 years or more.
Other Vintages
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La Grave could be considered the equivalent of a third growth in the Médoc and ranks amongst the top Pomerol. His very first personal acquisition, Christian Moueix purchased the estate in June 1971 and gave a great deal of attention to the restoration of the chateau, cellar, and vineyard. Today, as part of the Ets Jean-Pierre Moueix properties, it receives the same meticulous care as the other family’s top chateaux.
The illustrious and famed Bordeaux negociant firm of Ets. JeanPierre Moueix was founded in 1937 and holds exclusive rights to sell and manage some of the greatest vineyards on the right bank of Bordeaux. The properties of Jean-Pierre Moueix can be found in the appellations of Pomerol and St. Emilion with each estate being carefully selected by Christian Moueix. The Moueix family has defined a style of winemaking distinguished by integrity and total devotion to the expression of each individual vineyard.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.