Chateau Beychevelle (1.5 Liter Magnum) 2016

Professional Ratings

• 96 Jeb Dunnuck
  I was able to taste the 2016 Château Beychevelle on two occasions, and it showed beautifully both times. This is also the first vintage made in the new cellar. Medium to full-bodied, incredibly seamless and elegant on the palate, yet beautifully concentrated, it offers a heavenly perfume of spring flowers, violets, saddle leather, and blueberry and cassis fruit. A blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and the rest Cabernet Franc, brought up in 50% new oak, it’s still tight, taunt, and reserved on the palate, yet has the hallmark purity of fruit and balance of the vintage front and center. Hide bottles for 4-6 years, and it will keep for 25+ years or more.
• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2016 Beychevelle is comprised of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. It spent 18 months aging in 50% new and 50% second-use barrels. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little broody to begin, opening slowly to reveal subtle savory notes of dried herbs, charcuterie and black olives before breaking through to a profound core of warm cassis, baked black plums, red currant jelly and candied violets. The palate is medium-bodied and delicately played with a quiet intensity of tightly wound nuances and fantastic freshness, finishing with a lingering savory lift. This latent beauty will require a bit more time than most 2016s, but promises to over-deliver to those prepared to wait. Around 19,000 cases were made.
  Rating: 95+
• 95 Decanter
  The first vintage made in Château Beychevelle’s brand new cellar; the combination of great weather and technical advances deliver a brilliant wine full of brooding dark cassis fruits, pushed onwards and upwards by confident tannins. You can feel the benefit from the new smaller-sized stainless steel vats, which allow for better plot work. The Beychevelle winemaking team now have 100 different lots to choose from for the blend – double the amount they had before. Consequently, the wine has precision, complexity and layers. Malolactic fermentation in the barrels, plus no racking until the moment of bottling, also helped deliver the richness and weight that strikes across the palate. One of the most impressive Beychevelles in years. 1% Cabernet Franc rounds out the blend.
• 94 James Suckling
  Stacks of cassis, graphite and smoke on the nose of this rather full-bodied St.-Julien with a ton of velvety tannins that drive the long finish that’s simultaneously sweet, fresh and powdery. Try in 2022.
• 94 Wine Enthusiast
  Now with a brand-new, see-through glass winery, this estate is showing its true elegance. The wine does not have great power but it offers a ripe, smooth, sophisticated texture and black fruits. It already shows delicious flavors that will improve. Drink from 2025.
• 93 Wine Spectator
  This has a slightly beefy edge, with warmed plum and blackberry paste flavors pumping through. Shows a touch of heft on the back end, with dark tobacco and earth notes leaving a subtly chewy feel, though there's ample fruit to soak that up. Best from 2024 through 2038.
• 93 Connoisseurs' Guide

  Very rich upon first nosing with a wealth of dark, slightly plumy fruit framed by lovely oak and laced with elements of toast and carmelized meats, Beychevelle delivers on its terrific aromatic promise with broad, deeply extracted flavors that follow suit. It is at once both showy and unequivocally ageworthy with integral, never-gruff tannins providing proper finishing grip, and it is hard not to get excited about where it looks to be headed with another decade of age.