With an incredibly dark hue, the wine is as expected, concentrated, full bodied, rich, multi-layered and multi faceted. Once the wine is in the glass, your met with waves of ripe, dark, red fruits and a wall of tannin...

Very ripe blueberries here, married to delicate, smoky-oak and baking-spice character. Concentrated and succulent with a wonderful, mineral freshness at the long, energetic finish. A very flexible food-wine. Drink or hold.

A more brooding bouquet of wild berries, rich forest floor and wood smoke introduces a similarly supple, elegantly-structured palate, with a bit more depth and fat on its bones than the Clos du Roy - the soils richer in...

What a brilliant vintage this is - just so complete. Honestly at this level, where prices don't change that dramatically between vintages, you should go for the 2016 if you have the option. It's on a different level in...

A warm wine rich in tannins and with succulent berry fruits, this is both powerful and elegant. Its density doesn't detract from the fruitiness that shines out of the wine and balances with the structured aging potential...

A red with very deep and intense fruit character, yet rich tannins to back it all up. Full-bodied, layered and powerful. The second wine of Cos d’Estournel is serious again in 2016. Try from 2025.

Fantastic aroma of Mara des Bois strawberries. Very juicy with an explosion of strawberries and ripe nectarines. Stunning vitality due to the bright and fine mousse plus the lively acidity. Long and elegant finish that...

Inky plum colour, the deepest in the vertical at this point, autumnal fruit and grilled spice come in rich waves on the nose and plump textured blackberry, blueberry, creme de cassis, autumn hedgerow, tobacco, pencil...

What a wine - such class from the excellent 2016 vintage. A touch of meatiness to the nose with bacon, green peppers and black pepper. So expansive in the mouth while at the same time seeming a little closed or perhaps on...

Vivid ruby. Highly perfumed red and blue fruit and floral pastille aromas are sharpened by white pepper and smoky mineral nuances. Juicy and energetic in the mouth, offering intense boysenberry and raspberry preserve...

Showing a serious depth of color, the wine offers a wealth of dark fruits on the nose. From there you find spice box, leafy tobacco, cigar box, cherry pipe tobacco and sweet coffee bean aromas. On the palate, which is...

Bright flowers and attractive red berries on offer here with a really succulent, velvety palate that offers rich red-plum flavors. Long and juicy resolve. A blend of 74 per cent merlot, 19 per cent cabernet franc and...

Composed of 56% Merlot, 37.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6.5% Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Haut-Brion is deep garnet in color. The nose beings with simple licorice notes before slowly unfurling to deliver growing scents of creme...

Rich and heady in the glass, the 2016 Patris Querre is a gorgeous, sumptuous Saint-Émilion. Inky blue/purplish fruit, lavender, chocolate, tobacco and spice are pushed forward. Powerful and super-ripe, the 2016 has a lot...

This is a rich, perfumed wine, with dense tannins and intense layers of black plum and spice. The palate is firmly built yet broadened out by plump dark-fruit tones and honed by a solid, dry core. Drink from 2025.

While no red Ex Voto was made in 2016, the 2016 Ermitage Ex Voto Blanc is brilliant, offering classic, powerful notes of Asian spices, toasted bread, acacia flowers, and crushed rocks as well as tons of quince and stone...

Enticing inky depths to the colour, slate tannins that are fully in control, adding precision and power to the cassis fruits. As it opens, the austerity recedes and sweet blackberry and loganberry fruit appear, along with...

The 2016 Volnay Carelle Sous La Chapelle 1er Cru is noticeably deeper in colour than its peers. The nose has plenty of quite lush red berry fruit, but it misses the clarity of other Volnays included in this tasting. The...

Packed with young tannins, this wine shows the structure of the vintage as well as its fresh and perfumed fruit. The combination will develop to produce a restrained and elegant wine. Drink from 2025.

Sun-baked garrigue and smoky notes of iron and earth accent intensely ripe black cherry and cassis in this wine. Made from 100% Syrah, it's a hulking powerhouse of black-fruit flavors but finessed by firm acidity and...

The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and in the same league as the perfect 2010. Awesome notes of blackberries, crème de cassis, charred meats, licorice, and violets...

(12.5% alcohol; from a steep southwest-facing slope with slightly richer soil than the Mâcon Milly-Lamartine Montagne de Cra; the vines here were planted from the late 1970s through the early '80s): Bright, full...

The 2016 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is superb, bursting from the glass with aromas of juicy cherries, peonies, blood orange, licorice, raw cocoa and espresso roast. On the palate, it's full-bodied...

The 2016 Canon is deep garnet colored. It pirouettes out of the glass with energetic scents of Morello cherries, black raspberries, and fresh blueberries, plus wafts of lilacs, star anise, fallen leaves, and fragrant...

Packed with fruit as well as rich wood and smoke flavors, this wine is still young but has potential. Ripe berry fruits will come together well as the wine moves into the next stage. Drink from 2023. ROGER VOSS

Transparent yellow. Smoky, mineral-accented citrus and orchard fruits on the nose, along with a suave floral nuance and a touch of iodine. Sappy, concentrated and lively on the palate, offering pear liqueur, tangerine...