Petrus 2016

A subtle, immensely harmonious Pétrus, lean, with great elegance and refinement, yet also with substance and a solid structure. The seamlessly dense tannins fit perfectly into the whole.

There are both lush and structured elements working here, with velvety cassis, raspberry puree and plum compote notes intertwined with tobacco, alder and cocoa accents. This pulls together steadily through the finish, showing superb focus and a tight-grained feel, while fresh acidity imparts rippling energy. The raspberry note hangs longest through the finish. Best from 2022 through 2038.

This is a silky-smooth wine. However, that silkiness masks the generous, ripe tannins and juicy black fruits. It has great structure, full of serious firmness. Give it time and this wine will explode in a series of wonderful fruits, while keeping the classic Bordeaux structure. Drink from 2025.

Bottled in mid-August, this is already taking on the most amazing slow creep of well-defined, crisp violet, cassis, tight black fruits and fig notes; floral and fresh yet complex and ripe. It's balanced by the most gorgeous burst of mint and slate, all stretching out slowly, delicately, gently. It's more architectural than the monumental 2015, but no less impressive, beginning to really settle and take its time to gather its forces, to layer itself up. A pure, precise style, it holds your attention for many many minutes after the wine has gone, both aromatically and intellectually. The overall impression is simply of pleasure. 50% new oak.

This is very fleshy and deep with so much texture and richness. It’s full-bodied yet fresh. The tobacco, white truffle, licorice and dark fruit are so impressive. It’s so exuberant and wild. It just goes on for ever. Spellbinding. Very muscular and powerful. Agile and energetic. Please give this time. Needs eight to ten years. Try from 2029.

Tasted blind. Heady and Pomerol-esque on the nose which really draws you in with a promise of intrigue. Hint of cordite. Love or loathe but certainly dramatic. Slightly drying and hot on the end at the moment. (JR)

The 2016 Pétrus is magnificent. There is a sense of total completeness in the 2016 that is hard to capture with words. A regal wine of total presence, the 2016 simply has it all. Beautifully layered in the glass, with stunning aromatics and endless, layered fruit, the 2016 is utterly captivating. Once again I am struck by the wine's purity and total class. Technical Director Olivier Berrout and his team turned out a magnificent Pétrus in 2016. Total time in barrel was 19 months, with 50% new oak.

Deep ruby in color, here you find truffle, dark chocolate, coffee bean, cigar box, black cherry and dark plums. Full bodied, elegant, velvety, opulent, sweet and fresh, the presence on the palate is silk and velvet in the texture with purity and sweetness to the fruits. The wine is hedonistic as well as intellectual, and a little bit firm. There is serious aging potential. The wine really sticks with you, for over 60 seconds in the finish. Give this at least 15 or more years in the cellar to develop before popping a cork.

Dark ruby garnet, purple reflections, delicate brightening on the rim. Intense dark berry fruit, a hint of liquorice, cranberry and fresh orange zest notes and subtle underlying oak. Elegant, juicy, ripe cherry, decisive freshness, powerful tannins, but not aggressive, fine red forest fruit confit, pleasant minerality and savoury finish. A very precise wine of great liveliness and length with impressive ageing potential.

Pure nose, floral, very ripe and inky fruit with blackberry, cassis, earth, tobacco, very fine oak with just a touch of coffee and vanilla. Very dense palate, silky with immense concentration of tannin, very smooth and fine with layers of floral blackberry with plum, cassis, dark chocolate, fine spices, clove, pepper and a very long, intense and elegant finish, keeps lingering for minutes and new layers emerge.

One of the top wines in the vintage is unquestionably the 2016 Chateau Petrus, which is, as always, all Merlot aged in just over half new French oak. It's more reserved and subtle compared to the 2015, yet it’s unquestionably in the same ballpark, offering a deep ruby/purple color as well as a classy bouquet of crème de cassis, black cherries, graphite, smoke tobacco, spring flowers, and subtle spicy oak. This is a wine that builds with time in the glass and delivers a full-bodied, multi-dimensional texture, present, ripe tannins, perfect balance, and a finish that won't quit. It’s haute couture at its finest, and as I wrote multiple times in my notes, simply pure class. Hide bottles for at least 7-8 years (10-15 would be even better) and it will keep for half a century.

Kunz Fassprobe 17: (100% Merlot, 35 hl/ha, 14.5% alc.) A complex, profound, velvety, refined bouquet: blackberries, blueberries, After Eight, pralines, a subtle touch of coconut. The palate is tightly knit, finely concentrated, multi-layered and elegant, with dense, delicately sweet fruit, plenty of fine tannin, rich and varied aromatics, a subtly creamy texture, and a very long, fresh finish with many lingering notes. Still has room to improve.

(100% Merlot, 35 hl/ha, 14.5% alc.) Complex, profound, velvety, refined bouquet: blackberries, blueberries, After Eight, pralines, with a subtle hint of coconut. The palate is tightly knit, finely concentrated, layered and elegant, with dense, fine, sweet fruit, plenty of fine tannin, rich and multifaceted aromatics, and a delicately creamy texture. Very long, fresh finish with many lingering flavors. Can improve further. 19/20 2025 - 2045

As has been the case since 2011, Pétrus is 100% Merlot (the Cabernet Franc vines were uprooted after the 2010 harvest). On the palate, the purity of the fruit is impressive, leading into a saline finish. There is plenty of indulgent charm in this highly seductive wine, with sweetness perfectly measured for a great Pomerol. It is now set for 18 to 19 months of ageing, with 55% new oak.

Purplish violet. The nose is powerful and finely wrought. Does that seem paradoxical? It is—and that’s perfectly normal. This is Petrus and its subtle strength. Aromas of redcurrant, blackberry and liquorice. After a few minutes, the bouquet reveals a fresh edge with notes of red berries, followed by touches of pepper and graphite. The attack is just as delicate—and, of course, powerful. In three words: racy, elegant and fruity. The acidity and tannins build a framework for decades, and Petrus shows itself in a powerful, vibrant register, with a chalky touch and liquorice flavours on the palate. What finesse in the tannins, and what aromatic intensity. These tannins settle in slowly and gracefully. They are powerful, elegant, compact, and perfectly in tune with the lively structure that drives the entire palate. What power and what grace. On the finish, the wine gains even more expression. It isn’t merely well-behaved or graceful: it is Petrus in the youth of its age, eager to assert its independence—insisting that it has every right to be a teenager… which it does to a similar extent as other “bad students” (Lafleur, for example), marked by a form of austerity that it nonetheless knows how to wrap in velvet and power. Petrus’s greatness today is measured minute by minute… its greatness over time will be measured decade by decade! What length on the finish, what persistence and what character! A Petrus that teases the grail—and I even wonder whether it might be what the grail contains!

Dark, intense, deep color. A very aromatic, refined nose with ripe, subtle fruit. A hint of violet when swirled. Precise on the attack, melting as it develops, very aromatic through the mid-palate; full-bodied and juicy, the wine lengthens on the finish like a Left Bank growth. It ends long, complex and delicious, without being overly extroverted for the time being.

Getting to enjoy Pétrus as it comes into full maturity is a glorious thing, and this combines fleshy promise of ripe damson fruits with subtle floral aromatics of crushed red roses. Fleshy yet with bite, fragrant and still peering over the line of maturity, the truffles that will surely come in a few years are not yet apparent, instead we are still on autumnal berries and toasted spice, underpinned by cocoa bean and liquorice. So good. 50% new oak, Olivier Berrouet winemaker.

The 2016 Petrus offers a jammy nose with notes of pure, silky, warm fruit and a massive, masculine and powerful taste with gobs of truffle infested fruit, jammy cherries and liquorice. It is a wonderful combination of classic ingredients that need to simmer slowly for a while as it is much too early to approach this massive wine now. Save it for 8-10 years and it should provide a complete set of fireworks.