Bordeaux 2016 at Two Years: The Rest of The Left
Having taken a tour through the leading communal appellations of the left bank, I am finishing up on the Médoc peninsula with a collection of notes from other relevant appellations. This means the other communal appellations of Moulis and Listrac, the Haut-Médoc and Médoc appellations, and also any left-bank wines tasted which have the generic Bordeaux appellation.
This is an excellent vintage for Bordeaux (on both sides of the Gironde), and it is good to see that this quality has filtered down to these less prestigious appellations. There are some very attractive wines here, many of which should offer enjoyable drinking in years to come, and some offer good value as well. The quality is not uniform though, and as is also the case in other reports some wines here are much more successful than others.
Looking first purely for quality, in Moulis both Château Chasse-Spleen, with its grilled and grippy fruits, and Château Poujeaux, with a fresh and savoury profile, offer plenty of promise. In the Haut-Médoc appellation, Château La Lagune is also a good proposition in this vintage, showing a correct and very elegantly restrained style which I suspect will do very well in the cellar. And, punching well above its weight, I was very impressed by the 2016 from Goulée, made as ever by the team from Château Cos d’Estournel. With its brawny flavours of macerated fruits, and its taut, sinewy style, this is set to be a real crowd-pleaser. My favourite, though, was the Grand Vin de Reignac, which has fabulously scented black fruits on the nose, and lusciously ripe tannin very typical of the vintage. It’s not really a wine of the left bank, of course, the estate being located on the Entre-Deux-Mers, but I have included it here for the sake of simplicity.
