Clos Fourtet 2016

Particularly charming in character, seductive on the nose with notes of berries, spices, flowers and herbs, wonderfully fresh and easy to drink on the palate, yet with the necessary density.

Lively, with a juicy, mouthfilling mix of loganberry, black currant and bramble flavors pumping through, laced liberally with licorice snap and roasted apple wood notes. Tobacco and savory accents provide detail, while a beautifully fine chalky thread adds length. Best from 2022 through 2038. 4,583 cases made.

So amazingly nuanced, such elegance combined with ripeness, a vintage that many say is wonderful, as do I. Blackberry and dark cherry, cool blueberry and wet stone minerality delivered in a seamless palate, even more than the 2005 – at least at this tasting. Add to this the impressive concentration, and you get Yin and Yang. A bit of crushed tobacco lends freshness to a very long, cool and thoroughly classy finish. 3.45pH.

Love the dark-berry and intense black-olive and chocolate aromas that follow through to a full body and firm, chewy tannins delivering a rich and delicious finish. Such polish and, at the same time, finesse. But one for the cellar. A blend of 90 percent merlot, 7 percent cabernet sauvignon and 3 percent cabernet franc. Try from 2022.

The 2016 Clos Fourtet is vivid, explosive and simply captivating. Inky blue/purplish berry fruit, lavender, spice and white flowers are all vivid in the glass, but it is the wine's silky, seamless personality that elevates it into a place among the wines of the vintage. In 2016, Clos Fourtet is stunningly beautiful and utterly compelling. This is a tremendous showing from proprietor Matthieu Cuvelier and consulting winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt. Tasted two times.

This has started to emerge from its youth and already offers a luscious expression of black and red fruits, licorice, salt, and flowers. The wine is rich, deep, concentrated, long, and silky, with a finish that easily hits the 50-second mark. Drink from 2023 to 2050.

Deep dark ruby in colour with an opaque core, purple reflections, and subtle brightening on the rim. A somewhat shy bouquet on the nose, with hints of nougat, dark berries, ripe cherry, delicately underlaid with orange zest. The palate is powerful and juicy, with ripe supporting tannins, blackberry, and cherry fruit notes, and a saline minerality on the lingering finish. Still needs time, the wine has certain ageing potential.

Pure nose, very chalky with notes of ripe dark berries, cassis, cherry, nougat, tobacco and fine oak. Ample and dense structure with a remarkable concentration – a bright freshness underneath, savoury and broad with good volume, finely chiseled tannins, layers of wild berry fruit and a very long grippy finish. Excellent.

One of the gems in the vintage that should be snatched up by readers is the 2016 Clos Fourtet. Coming from a magical 20-hectare vineyard located on the upper, limestone-driven plateau just outside Saint-Emilion and a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Cabernet Franc from small yields of 38 hectoliters per hectare, it spent 16 months in 60% new French oak (and a small portion of the blend saw malo in barrel as well). Its saturated purple color is followed by a monster bouquet of ripe blackberries, cassis, graphite, and crushed rocks, and it picks up more blue fruits, truffle, and limestone minerality with time in the glass. This deep, full-bodied, powerful Saint-Emilion has some similarities to Canon yet is deeper and richer, with a more powerful yet still elegant style. It’s a brilliant bottle of wine to hide for 4-5 years and drink over the following 2-3 decades.

90% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, production: 50,000 bottles. Dark garnet with ruby highlights. Complex red-berry bouquet with cherry-tobacco and lingonberry notes. On the powerful palate with ripe extract, very dense, raspberry and redcurrant on the finish, very long finale. Riding a wave of elegance—with a clear sense of direction!

Kunz barrel sample 17: Opulent, fruity, sweet, velvety bouquet; blackberry jelly, black cherries, mocha, currants, tobacco, dark pralines. Creamy, dense, finely opulent palate with powerful, sweet fruit, plenty of fine tannins, a dense, opulent structure, intense aromatics, and a long, firm, aromatic finish. Can improve further.

Huge depth of colour, this delivers aromatics to dive right into, packed with violet flowers and baked fruit. The tannic structure remains young and very much in control, with edges of austerity, cradling the fruit, but once you wade through the first few moments, things relax to show creamy raspberry, black cherry and damson, with cocoa bean, espresso, sandalwood, incense, tobacco leaf. Pretty closed down at the moment, great lift on the finish and the sappy saline character, with an eucalyptus note, from ripe Merlot on limestone, just a beautiful wine that you will want to share, but give it time. 60% new oak. Stephane Derenoncourt and Jean-Claude Berrouet consultants.

The palate, with its radiant geometry, shows great distinction. The very delicate tannins seem almost imperceptible. This cru charms with the fresh breadth of its pulpy substance.

The deep tension of a sanguine, juicy Merlot builds on the plateau’s depth. The early “combative ball of fruit” evolves into a black-fruit coulis, spiced with a touch of cinnamon and a hint of mint, revealing a terroir enhanced by biodynamics.

Nose of dark fruits, blackberry, blueberry. Lively palate, clean attack, full of pep, round, velvety tannins, long finish.

Like many 2016s, Clos Fourtet steps in on tiptoe. Admittedly, it’s known for this discreet way of making an entrance, but usually at the attack, not already on the bouquet! Here it follows the general trend of revealing the 2016s slowly! (Those that are already racing ahead are suspect!). The bouquet is of rare complexity. It highlights an infinite array of elements, yet always with a filigree touch. The attack is compact, elegant, lively, and precise. It paves the way for a powerful, dense, harmonious wine, ready to defy the many decades that will try to ensnare it. Given its serenity and power, it can simply smile politely at them (and laugh with cheerfulness!!) Bravo

The estate pulled up its Cabernet Franc vines in 2015. As a result, the blend is 90% Merlot. Dark, intense, beautiful color. Moderately aromatic nose with ripe fruit, very Merlot-driven. Delicate on attack, perfumed at mid-palate, subtle to the touch, the wine unfolds with savory flavor, offering very good sappy length and meticulously fine-grained tannins. It’s good!

Lush, fruity, sweet, velvety bouquet: blackberry jelly, black cherries, mocha, currants, tobacco, dark chocolate. Creamy, dense, finely opulent palate with powerful, sweet fruit, plenty of fine tannins, dense, opulent structure, intense aromatics, long, bitter, aromatic finish. Can improve further. 18/20 2024 - 2040

This structured wine shows a classical Bordeaux balance between fruit and acidity on the one hand and tannins and firm structure on the other. It also offers generous black-currant fruit and a fresh aftertaste. Drink this wine from 2025.