Bordeaux 2016: How Right Bank wines taste now

It's going to be interesting to compare the progress of the 2016 and 2015 vintages on Bordeaux's right bank in the coming years, writes Jane Anson, who reports below on how the 2016 vintage is looking in Pomerol and St-Emilion following a first round of tasting the recently-bottled wines.

We are used to hearing that better winemaking techniques have dimmed the differences between Right and Left Bank vintage successes. And it’s certainly true that there are highlights all over the region, with some excellent Bordeaux 2016 wines.

As a rule it has more power and more ageing potential than 2015, with plenty of classic, richly-structured and impressive bottles.

But, based on my tastings so far, it’s hard to argue that the Right Bank as a whole delivers the same seduction and charm as the 2015 vintage managed. That said, there are still some brilliant wines if you know where to look, and Pomerol was a particular highlight.

Right Bank Bordeaux had two things in particular to cope with in 2016.

The drought in the summer, and the heavy rain and cool temperatures from February to May that meant that things got off to a later than usual start, with mid-flowering just over a week later than normal.This brought challenges particularly to cooler clay soils (although a sunny week in early June helped ensure flowering was more even than it had threatened to be).

Overall, although there were clear winners over on the Right Bank, as a rule my average points are one or two below the Left Bank – closer to 90 or 91 compared to 92 or 93 over in the Médoc.

Of the wines re-tasted so far, I have given two 100 points on the Left Bank, and just one on the Right Bank. But more telling probably is the number of 95+ wines. You are going to find more of them over in the Médoc, where many estates have made their best wines since 2010.

That being said, 2016 is still an extremely strong year overall– I give the Right Bank 4 out of 5 on the Decanter rating; compared to 5 out of 5 over on the Left Bank.

The high points are clear, notably in Pomerol (with a special mention for the Moueix wines, that showed extremely strongly) and parts of the limestone plateau of St-Emilion.

But for overall enjoyment, the Left Bank seems to have had the best of the vintage.

This is particularly true when you compare the wines to the 2015 vintage, where the Right Bank offered seductive, ripe, fleshy and juicy fruit expression. These are two years where I would suggest that Right Bank-Left Bank rivalry is alive and well.

St-Emilion

See all St-Emilion 2016 wines tasted so far

A number of things have made me fall back in love with St-Emilion recently. A dialling back of extraction and new oak, and a clearer intention to link winemaking style to terroir for a start.

To explain why this matters particularly over here, I’ll just briefly detour into limestone. The problem with this soil type, as far as I see it, is that all its beauty (minerality, salinity, elegance) can be wiped out if you overload it with oak or over extract. And yet the temptation to do so is high, because limestone wines can lack the seductive richness of clay when young.

In a year like 2016, that was a particular issue, because there were high acidities that meant the austerity of limestone was emphasised.

It felt to me like too many estates fell back on over-oaking to cover that up – or perhaps it was simply that the fruit wasn’t as generous as 2015, and so the high extraction was clearer.

Either way, walking the line seemed extremely hard in St-Emilion in 2016, and I often found myself wishing the estates would dial down the polish and let the natural juice flow through the wine. These are wines that should age extremely well, but will not give the same pleasure in the short to medium term as the 2015s.

There are plenty of positives to focus on. The Right Bank 2016 wines may not be as immediately sexy as the 2015 vintage, but the best are still voluptuous and beautifully structured, with ripe fruit and clear potential for long ageing.

September rains that fell for three days from September 14 to 17 helped enormously, especially for later-ripening soils. Until this rainy spell, there had been some blockages of ripening in (mainly young vine) Merlot due to the extremely dry summer which set in from late June and continued pretty much right through until harvest.

And those early season rains were also extremely helpful, as most of the water-retaining soils had plenty in reserve to keep feeding the vines.

In terms of numbers, Merlot grapes were on average a little bigger but a little lower in sugar than in 2015 (246g of sugar on average in 2016, compared to 64g in 2015), which you see in the slightly lower alcohol percentages – in many cases a full percentage point lower than in 2016.

The acidities were the same (3g on average) but that gives a higher acidity perception because of lower sugar to balance things out.

To put that into perspective, the sugars were lower than 2009 but higher than 2010 and 2014 – so still rich and powerful, with long ageing potential, but a more classic profile than 2015 or 2009.

The best estates handled the extraction very carefully, and managed to be both voluptuous and well structured, with a thrilling sense of potential.

Châteaux to watch: Figeac was a standout wine in 2016 St-Emilion, as were Pavie-Maquin, Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse, Canon and Belair-Monange.

Pomerol

See all Pomerol 2016 wines tasted so far

Pomerol seems to better suit the conditions of 2016 than St-Emilion.

It’s an appellation where there is always a full punch of tight black fruits and natural richness from the clay soils, plus the sheer ripeness of Merlot on gravel simply makes them more forgiving of high tannins and high acidity.

There are some wonderful wines here that are precise, powerful and extremely well constructed. Overall I would say Pomerols are not as consistent as in the 2015s but the highs are absolutely there. In the main they are meaty, tannic wines, but with floral highlights and real charm.

Moueix stood out, a fantastic lineup of wines that showed how well they worked with the acidity levels of the 2016s, turning them into an advantage when set against enough fleshy fruit.

Châteaux to watch

Not everyone got this right; but it was hard to fault the Moueix winemaking.

Other stand outs in the appellation included Petrus, Vieux Château Certan, La Conseillante and L’Evangile. A special mention also to Gazin and La Violette.

Top scoring wines tasted so far

Jane Anson will be tasting the 2016 wines of several high profile estates in the coming weeks, including the Angélus, Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Pavie in St-Emilion, plus names such as Lafleur, Le Pin and Clinet in Pomerol. These will be added to our list of reviews for Premium subscribers once published.

See all in-bottle Pomerol 2016 wines tasted so far

See all in-bottle St-Emilion 2016 wines tasted so far

See Anson’s top Bordeaux 2016 wines in the Médoc and read more about vintage conditions