Chateau La Gaffeliere 2016

Professional Ratings

• 97 Wine Enthusiast
  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. Drink the wine from 2025.
  Editors' Choice
• 96 James Suckling
  This is really decadent and rich with great aromas of earth, spice, frost flowers and fresh mushrooms that follow through to a full body, firm and chewy tannins and a flavorful finish. Very, very serious from here. A blend of 70 per cent merlot and 30 per cent cabernet franc. Try after 2025.
• 96 Decanter

  This was delicious En Primeur and is even better now with three years under its belt. It's had time to bed down and is fully set for the long term. Wonderfully rich, intense dark fruits are joined by grip and supple tannins through the palate. It has hints of dark chocolate, and a floral edge from the Cabernet Franc. Be in no rush to open this, because it's clearly going to deliver over the next few decades. As of this vintage, we are seeing the blend that the estate hopes to maintain (60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc). Drinking Window 2025 - 2044

• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2016 La Gaffeliere opens with compelling wild blueberries, freshly crushed plums and kirsch scents plus hints of garrigue, underbrush, rose hip tea and pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully elegant with a soft, velvety texture and seamless freshness carrying the multilayered fruit to a long finish.
  Rating: 95+
• 94 Wine Spectator
  This has a suave, cashmere feel, with waves of blackberry and plum reduction rolling through, infused liberally with dark tobacco and black licorice notes. A black tea accent smolders on the finish, complemented by a faint floral echo. This should age into a charmer. Best from 2022 through 2037.
• 92 Connoisseurs' Guide

  A little riper in tone on the nose than is the norm for St.-Émilion in 2016 and showing a slightly roasted warmth to its aromas of black plums, dark cherries and berries and colored with shadings of sweet soil and dried flowers that extend into its rich, Merlot-centric flavors, this vividly fruity wine is insistently ripe yet never threatens to stray into excess. It is just beginning to show the complexity inherent in top-tier Bordeaux, and, if sure to reward an additional five years of cellaring, the smarter choice would be waiting for ten.