Bordeaux En Primeurs 2016

A vintage with an atypical and stressful climate

Talking about the vintage 2016 is telling the story of a stressful, unpredictable nature, by some aspects radical but with a quite exceptional result! 2016 is divided into three main periods…

Winter / Spring: Enough water !

The winter of 2015-2016 was exceptionally mild and very wet. Spring was just the same… We note that in places between 600 and 700 mm of precipitation fell between January and June, about twice as much a «classic» year. Small special mention for the month of January in Saint-Emilion which received nearly 200mm of rain. Mid / late February the first buds were out ahead compared to the last few years. This advance would be lost later because of a slightly cooler period.The bud break at the end of March favored by the wet and sweet conditions.The vineyard flowered a few days later than average in recent years.The end of May the days were a little warmer and favorable to flowering.

Summer:

Could there be a little water ?

From mid June onwards, the climate was warm and warmer. Besides this, cooler nights than usual, offering a very exceptional day / night temperature difference.

July offered good conditions for the vine. August is marked by a long drought and a few scorching episodes that make certain parcels suffer, non-clayey soils and especially young vines with less developed root systems (blockages of maturity, water stress …).The «old vines» endure these exceptional conditions thanks in particular to the water reserves accumulated during the winter and the spring. The veraison took place from the 4th to the 16th of August.

September:

The right amount of water at the right time !

The month of September started dry but a few light rains (30/40 mm) fell on the 13th and 14th of September unblocking the maturity, bringing a bit more «juice» and thus offering a breath of oxygen to winemakers. This precipitation of mid-Septem-

ber ensures a good maturity and the quality of the vintage. The harvest took place a bit later than usual.

My first impressions of

the 2016 vintage

Every year the En Primeurs season (March / April) allows professionals from all over the world to meet in the Bordeaux vineyards to taste the latest vintage. Before speaking to you, in a global way, of vintage 2016 wines it seems important to remind you that it is wine Primeurs. That is to say unfinished wines, in the process of being created and therefore not finished! This could, if I dared to compare, be like an ultrasound of a baby in the sixth month of pregnancy. Just as for the child this «examination» allows us to have a good idea of what the wine will become without having a fixed, determined and 100% reliable image.The majority of the wines remaining in vinification between 12 and at most 24 months. I must also remind you that in the Gironde there are more than 10,000 vineyards, a great wealth of terroirs and therefore thousands of wines. You must therefore understand that the short description below is only a general overview and can in no way be understood as a veritable truth verifiably on absolutely 100% of the wines. As in all vintages, there are properties, know-how and terroirs that do better than others. Let us also bear in mind that, as one famous taster said, «tasting is not about tracking down the fault, but about determining whether the pleasure exceeds it.» Wine is not a technological product, standardized but a living product of human, pleasure, sharing and conviviality!

Following you will find the TOP 100 of the best Primeurs notes/reviews. Keep in mind that it would be incongruous to compare a Pessac-Léognan with a Pomerol or an other appellation because we don’t have to expect the same thing from these wines!

You will also find at the end of this Bordeaux EnPrimeur 2016 subject a short selection of wines that didn’t necessarily get the best ratings but that offer an excellent value for money… «coups de coeur» wines!