Chateau Monbousquet SAINT EMILION GRAND CRU CLASSE 2016

As to the red, I was blown away by the 2016 Château Monbousquet. This classic, elegant vintage plays fabulously well at this address. Beautiful blackcurrants, cassis, gravelly minerality, and chocolate all emerge from this full-bodied Saint-Emilion that has another level of purity and elegance over every other vintage I've tasted. It delivers loads of pleasure today and will do the same in 15 years as well. Bravo!

Lush, warm and exotic in profile, with a gush of blackberry, fig and boysenberry reduction notes coursing through, inlaid nicely with thin graphite and tobacco threads that provide structure. A Lapsang souchong tea depth swirls through the finish, gilding the long echo of showy fruit. Best from 2022 through 2035.

Deep purple-black, the 2016 Monbousquet charges out of the gate with rambunctious plum preserves, Black Forest cake and mocha scents with hints of redcurrant jelly, hoisin and cardamom. Full-bodied with a very compelling minerally restraint on the palate, it has a great intensity of red and black fruits with plush tannins and a lively lift to the finish.

This full, generous wine has tannins that integrate well with the rich berry fruits. There is a touch of smokiness as well as spice, toast and a final velvet texture. Drink this accessible wine from 2023.

The 2016 Monbousquet has a very attractive bouquet offering copious dark cherry and boysenberry fruit, light floral scents and hints of undergrowth. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, quite tertiary in style and needing just a little more flesh toward the finish. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.