Winemaker Notes
Very, deep and concentrated in appearance. The complex bouquet harmonises well with the elegant, intense dark fruit flavours and spicy, liquorice notes. Powerful and full-bodied from the outset, the wine gains in length on the palate, while its core is packed with fruit and tobacco notes. The wine coats the dense, fine-grained and silky tannic structure to perfection, and culminates in a lengthy, aromatic finish.
Blend: 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely enticing aromas of ripe plums and peaches with spices, such as nutmeg. Full-bodied, deep and firmly textured with beautiful fruit and a lovely, long and flavorful finish. Best since 1989. Try after 2021.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an opulent wine, packed with ripe fruit, sweet tannins and ample acidity, all in balance. The wine is full and juicy, with great spice at the end. The finish is firm while still reveling in fruitiness.
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Decanter
High on the acidity, you know you are in the Médoc here. It's extremely Cabernet dominant, with scents of damson, rich spiced plum and touches of vanillin. Great individual strands of flavour include blackberry and bilberry, beautifully fattened up during ageing in bottle. 34% new oak.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Belgrave is a blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot and was picked from 28 September until 20 October. It has a generous bouquet with small dark cherries, blueberry and crushed violet aromas, quite Margaux-like in style. There is certainly good intensity here. The palate is medium-bodied with a supple opening: blackberry, mint and cedar. From the start there is fine tension and there is very impressive structure towards the finish, plus a long saline aftertaste. This is a very strong follow-up to the 2015 Belgrave and indeed, it may surpass it. Rating: 90-92
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.
One of the most—if not the most—famous red wine regions of the world, the Medoc reaches from the city of Bordeaux northwest along the left bank of the Gironde River almost all the way to the Atlantic. Its vineyards climb along a band of flatlands, sandwiched between the coastal river marshes and the pine forests in the west. The entire region can only claim to be three to eight miles wide (at its widest), but it is about 50 miles long.
While the Medoc encompasses the Haut Medoc, and thus most of the classed-growth villages (Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, St-Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe) it is really only those wines produced in the Bas-Medoc that use the Medoc appellation name. The ones farther down the river, and on marginally higher ground, are eligible to claim the Haut Medoc appellation, or their village or cru status.
While the region can’t boast a particularly dramatic landscape, impressive chateaux disperse themselves among the magically well-drained gravel soils that define the area. This optimal soil draining capacity is completely necessary and ideal in the Medoc's damp, maritime climate. These gravels also serve well to store heat in cooler years.