Chateau Prieure-Lichine 2016
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
With vineyards in the southern Margaux village of Cantenac, this estate has produced a deliciously juicy wine. The structure follows a straight line between the tannins and the intense fruit and acidity. The wine should age well, ready to drink from 2024.
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Decanter
Rich and velvety red in colour with deep violet reflections, the brushed velvet appearance carries over to the texture on the palate. A good lineup of fruit flavours are joined by sweet softness through the mid-palate that widens things out rather than dips, and there's a slow build to the finish. Matured in 50% new oak. 2016 yielded 43hl/ha.
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James Suckling
A very suave, polished Margaux that delivers iodine and dark-stone aromas and a wealth of ripe, plush dark fruit that follows through to the palate in attractive, fleshy and juicy mode. Try from 2022.
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Wine Spectator
A restrained style, with a beam of cherry, cassis, lilac and sandalwood flavors, revealing a good fleshy feel and solid depth throughout. Light perfume and tobacco hints give the finish some added range. No fireworks here, just balance and focus. Best from 2021 through 2032.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Prieure-Lichine has a medium to deep garnet-purple color and a bold, intensely scented nose of warm blackcurrants, black raspberries and mulberries with hints of cedar chest, tobacco, dried herbs and iron ore. Medium-bodied, the palate has bags of class with lovely, vibrant black berries flavors and earthy sparks framed by ripe grainy tannins, finishing long and refreshing.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Although putting a very fine first foot forward with its easy-toget aromas of cherries, raspberries and slightly sweet, dusty soil, but despite initially in step upon entry, this wine grows a bit tight in progression and pulls back from its early flush of fruit. It is not wildly tannic, nor does it suffer from impolite astringency, but its finish stands in contrast to the open accessibility with which it begins and tags it as one that needs a wait of several years before fully blossoming.
Other Vintages
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Wine
The vine density at Prieuré-Lichine is quite high, and the vineyard is carefully managed plot by plot. The grapes are completely picked by hand into small crates and carefully gone over on a sorting table prior to crushing. Only the ripest, healthiest grapes are used. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel. The entire winemaking process is devoted to bringing out the charm, elegance and finesse characteristic of the finest wines in the Margaux appellation.
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.
Silky, seductive and polished are the words that characterize the best wines from Margaux, the most inland appellation of the Médoc on the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
Margaux’s gravel soils are the thinnest of the Médoc, making them most penetrable by vine roots—some reaching down over 23 feet for water. The best sites are said to be on gentle outcrops, or croupes, where more gravel facilitates good drainage.
The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification but it is nonetheless important in regards to history of the area. In 1855 the finest chateaux were deemed on the basis of reputation and trading price—at that time. In 1855, Chateau Margaux achieved first growth status, yet it has been Chateau Palmer (officially third growth from the 1855 classification) that has consistently outperformed others throughout the 20th century.
Chateau Margaux in top vintages is capable of producing red Cabernet Sauvignon based wines described as pure, intense, spell-binding, refined and profound with flavors and aromas of black currant, violets, roses, orange peel, black tea and incense.
Other top producers worthy of noting include Chateau Rauzan-Ségla, Lascombes, Brane-Cantenac, and d’Issan, among others.
The best wines of Margaux combine a deep ruby color with a polished structure, concentration and an unrivaled elegance.