2016 Wine from France

Vinous, 98 points: One of the unquestioned Sleeper jewels of the year, the 2016 Le Prieuré is off the charts beautiful. Silky and impossibly refined, the 2016 is a wine of pure and total precision. Today, the 2016 is a bit more restrained...

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: (93–95 points) Barrel Sample. This is a perfumed wine, likely thanks to a dollop (7%) of Cabernet Franc. It has ripe fruit characters, pleasant richness and a firm structure. ROGER VOSS

jebdunnuck.com, 98 points: Tasted on four separate occasions where this wine rated 97+, 98, 98, and 99, the 2016 Château Léoville-Poyferré is a brilliant bottle of wine and is certainly in the same league as the 2000, 2003, 2009, and 2010. Made...

jamessuckling.com, 94 points: 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.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 points: 93+ The 2016 Lirac Domaine du Clos de Sixte is a terrific wine, easily the rival to many Châteauneufs from across the river, starting with its alluring aromas of flowering garrigue and ripe cherries. A blend of 50%...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: 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...

TheWineCellarInsider.com, 99 points: This is a strong candidate for the best wine yet produced by the Cathiard family at Smith Haut Lafitte. The inky color lets you know this is going to be packed and stacked with layers of ripe fruit. But there is more...

Wine Enthusiast, 95 points: (93–95) Barrel Sample. The wine, a majority of young Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, is structured and firm with solid tannins and layers of black currant. This will be ready to be drink after 2025.

jamessuckling.com, 96 points: The aromas are very decadent with white truffle, dark berries and wet earth. Dense raspberries. Full-bodied, it grows on the palate with fantastic chewy tannins that are polished and intense. Like a beautifully formed...

Vinous, 95 points: The 2016 Lafon-Rochet has a very engaging bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit laced with pencil shavings and loamy scents. In fact, the more you nose this wine, the more its complexity becomes apparent. The palate...

jamessuckling.com, 95 points: (JS 94-95 points) This is a juicy and flavorful young wine with dusty and polished tannins. Lots of wild fruit and dark-berry and volcanic/salt undertones. Flavorful finish.

jamessuckling.com, 94 points: Suave aromas of cedar and fresh red flowers with a thread of ripe red berries and blackcurrants, mulberries, coal smoke and cool stones. The palate delivers a wealth of rich red-fruit flavors, framed in sleek tannins that...

jamessuckling.com, 95 points: Very fresh with fine dry tannins that carry the concentrated and ripe palate very nicely. I love the floral and currant bouquet that’s very enticing, in spite of the wine’s youth. Lots of blackcurrant and tobacco. A blend...

Vinous, 96 points: The 2016 Canon La Gaffelière is just as striking from bottle as it was from barrel. Bright, intensely aromatic and precise, the 2016 has it all. Sweet red cherry, pomegranate, blood orange and rose petal all race through...