Chateau Le Boscq 2016
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The aromas of spices, such as nutmeg and dried coriander, are very impressive. Black currants, too. Full-bodied with tannins that are fine-grained and very polished. Pretty finish that brings you back for more. Try in 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Le Boscq, owned by Vignobles Dourthe, is a blend of 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot and was picked 29 September until 20 October. This represents a move towards Cabernet Sauvignon and away from Merlot in the final blend. It has a very ripe, opulent bouquet that does not quite convey its terroir with the same aplomb as say, the Phelan-Ségur. It translates more of the winemaking than the terroir. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, crisp acidity and quite an elegant finish. It is in the second half of this wine that the quality of the vintage shows through. Hopefully the aromatics will gain more composure and it will live up to the finish it currently displays. One to watch. Rating: 91-93
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a dense wine, packed with tannins. However this youthful concentration does not mask the bold black fruits and good acidity that are also very present. The vineyard surrounds a 19th-century chateau on a high point in Saint-Estèphe. Drink this intense wine from 2024.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Château Le Boscq a rock star of a Saint-Estephe and offers a concentrated, textured, perfectly balanced profile that’s very much in the style of the vintage. Liquid violets, mint, spring flowers, and blue fruit characteristics all emerge from this medium to full-bodied effort. It has present tannins, yet they’re integrated and polished, and it’s already accessible given its purity and, again, its balance. It should keep for 20 years or so.
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Wine Spectator
This is both winey, with currant and cherry paste flavors, as well as tangy, with bright iron minerality for spine and a lilac note flitting through. The taut finish has pebbly grip. Not big, but should be fun to watch this mellow slightly with time. Best from 2021 through 2031. 6,500 cases made.
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Decanter
Elegant aromas of cedar, tobacco and leather with ripe black fruit. Refined well resolved tannins, showing a lovely finesse. Blend: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot.
Other Vintages
2022- Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast
Chateau Le Boscq’s reputation dates back to the conquest for the Medoc vineyard, when in 1749, Thomas Barton took over the tenancy at Chateau Le Boscq. For more than 30 years he dedicated his life to making wine of a quality repeatedly recognised, sometimes even at Cru Classé level, within the different classifications established in the 18th century by the courtiers and négociants in Bordeaux. At the end of the 19th century, Jean Grazilhon, whose grandfather was the estate’s steward working under Thomas Barton, become owner of the estate. He had the chateau built in 1891, a majestic residence enjoying views overlooking the Gironde estuary. For more than 30 years, he strived to produce high quality wines, paving the way for Chateau Le Boscq to be awarded Cru Bourgeois status in 1932. During this period, the estate’s wines were transported in barrels by barge as far as the port of Bordeaux. It is with reference to this historical fact, and to the location of the chateau by the estuary, that a barge now features on the labels as the emblem of the estate.
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.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.