Chateau La Fleur-Petrus 2016
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Suckling
James - Decanter
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
La Fleur-Petrus is composed predominantly of Merlot, which lends silkiness and generosity to the wine, while a small percentage of Cabernet Franc contributes rigor and complexity. The vineyard is made up of three parcels on the plateau of Pomerol with altitudes averaging 33 to 38 meters above sea level. The pebbly soils from the northern parcel yield a wine of great elegance with notes of black cherries.
The center plot, known for its summer heat (the area is called "Tropchaud"), produces a wine of tremendous suppleness with a hint of plum. Wine from the southern parcel is particularly velvety, dense, structured, with a pronounced nose of blackcurrant. Blended, these three singular terroirs with nuanced and complementary characteristics produce a generous, expressive wine with apparent structure and a dominance of black fruit. An attentive tasting reveals remarkable refinement, complexity, and atouch of violet.
Blend: 91% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Wow. The blackberry, dried-flower and orange-peel aromas are so impressive at first, but then they go to black truffle and wet earth. Full-bodied with a solid core of powerful yet fine-grained tannins. It goes on for minutes. A very muscular La Fleur-Pétrus. Drink after 2025.
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Decanter
The upfront brambly fruit is sensuous and luscious, followed by freshness and uplift that clamps the mid-palate and takes you vertically up in a whirl of mint and eucalyptus. It has gorgeous grip with violet edges, and for me this beats the brilliant 2015 because I love the push and pull between intensity and teasingly-slow acidity. It's all finesse, rewarding the effort and investment that has gone into La Fleur Pétrus in recent years. I loved it en primeur and I love it in bottle.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Château La Fleur Petrus is more regal and elegant, with an incredibly floral quality in its red and blue fruits, crushed rock, forest floor, and graphite-tinged aromas and flavors. This medium to full-bodied, rich, layered effort has notable structure, integrated acidity, beautiful balance, and a rock star finish. This is pure class and a thrilling La Fleur Petrus that needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will cruise for 2-3 decades.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended of 91% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc, the medium garnet-purple colored 2016 la Fleur-Petrus reveals stunning Black Forest cake, redcurrant jelly and wilted roses scents with underlying suggestions of pencil shavings, yeast extract, dark chocolate and cloves. Medium to full-bodied, the mid-palate possesses superb intensity and depth with layers of perfumed black fruits and loads of red fruit sparks framed by firm, ripe, grainy tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing on a lingering earthy note.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine comes from a large (for Pomerol) 46-acre vineyard. It has weight and density as well as dark tannins and rich black fruits. It shows great style with its beautifully integrated tannins. This wine will age well, ready to drink from 2025.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and warm in feel, with an alluring mix of creamy textured cherry, red currant and raspberry reduction notes, mixed with black tea and incense accents. Features a buried spine of graphite, with a hint of Turkish coffee lurking at the very end. Best from 2022 through 2036.
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Robert
Over the last 15 years La Fleur-Pétrus has become one of the most fascinating and, from a quality standpoint, extraordinary stories in Bordeaux. A wine borne of a great historic terroir, that through nurture and creativity has become something greater than perhaps could have been imagined, and a bright shining light of Pomerol.
Named for its position between Chateau Petrus and Chateau La Fleur, Chateau La Fleur-Pétrus dates to the 18th century and with a long reputation for producing great wines. In 1950 Chateau La Fleur-Pétrus became Jean-Pierre Moueix’ first vineyard purchase. His son Christian has overseen the re-ascension of this estate to the top of Pomerol’s hierarchy, through his incredibly meticulous vineyard care and delicate precision in the cellar, and the addition of two parcels, in 2005 and 2012.
The work of the last 20 years has produced a wine of genuine complexity and character; what fires the imagination is the thought of the next 20 years.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.