Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion 2016
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The color of the wine is dark ruby with purplish reflections. To start with, the first nose is a bit closed but it opens quickly to bright and neat fruits. Smoked and liquorice notes then appear, characteristic of the great Cabernet of Léognan terroir. The overall impression remains fresh. The mouth is dense and long, without shallow, perfectly built. The tannins are powerful with a lovely texture. A great wine for a great vintage of Bordeaux.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very attractive, earthy aromas with an array of herbal and leafy notes, as well as a dark-berry thread and earthy complexity. The palate has great depth and drive with a bright array of juicy red and darker berries. Plush, ripe tannins. Try from 2022.
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Decanter
What a brilliant vintage this is - just so complete. Honestly at this level, where prices don't change that dramatically between vintages, you should go for the 2016 if you have the option. It's on a different level in terms of depth and structure, and has opened up further from my tasting two years ago. You can drink it now, although will probably improve again over the next few years. Excellent Pessac-Léognan character, polish and balance but also plenty of black fruits and great chocolate; hard to argue with.
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Wine Spectator
Lively cassis and damson plum fruit gives this a fresh feel, while light sanguine and singed alder notes add contrast through the finish.
Barrel Sample: 90-93 Points -
Wine Enthusiast
With tannins that are ripe and velvety, this is already a generous wine. At the same time, it has a line of acidity that keeps it crisp and brings out the black currant fruitiness. Put the two elements together and the wine will be on top form after 2027.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Also terrific, the 2016 Château Larrivet Haut-Brion is in the same league as the 2015 and offers a perfectly balanced, medium to full-bodied style as well as complex notes of red and black fruits, smoke tobacco, incense, and cedar. It picks up a Graves-induced cold fireplace note as it sits in the glass, and again, is a beautifully balanced, layered 2016 that has loads of character. Give bottles a few years and enjoy over the following 15+.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Larrivet Haut-Brion reveals a beguiling, earthy/truffle-laced nose with notions of crushed rocks, tilled soil, fungi and mossy bark over a core of warm cassis and blackberry compote. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is elegantly crafted with soft, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with a quiet intensity of savory nuances.
Other Vintages
2022-
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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.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.