2016 Château Beychevelle: "The finest Beychevelle I have tasted." SL
This is an electrifying 2016
Neal Martin, vinous.com
2016 Château Beychevelle, St Julien
£450 per 6 bottle case in bond
There has always been something special about the 2016 Bordeaux vintage, particularly on the Left Bank. I still remember the phone call I took, sitting at my desk, holding the fort, in Castle Court, in April 2017, from an enthusiastic and smitten Simon, who was in France tasting the 2016s en primeur.
When reviewing the bottled wines in 2019, Neal Martin reflected: I shall always remember my first impression of the 2016s: their elegance, purity and poise, the intensity of fruit, the articulation of respective terroirs, and that oft-forgotten virtue, how bloomin’ delicious they tasted. My overriding feeling was that Bordeaux had been heading towards the 2016 vintage since the late 1990s. It was a year when everything just came together at the right moments.
Simon had actually visited Beychevelle a few months earlier, having taken a group of clients on tour of the Left Bank in November 2016. One of the Châteaux they visited was Beychevelle, where they were shown around a new, state-of-the-art winery, which had only weeks previously taken in its first harvest, as Neal Martin observed in his own en primeur note on the 2016 - the first vintage to be matured in the new chichi winery.
Simon's November preview was confirmed in April, when he told me in that call it was "the finest Beychevelle I have tasted". Neal Martin was in agreement, as can be seen in his April 2017 note below, and confirming in 2019 that This will surely be a benchmark for this Saint Julien estate.
We have long been fans of this wine. There is a clarity and vibrancy to the fruit, a freshness typical of the vintage, and a silky finesse to the tannins. If you did not buy before, is it now worth taking a case as it heads towards approachability and while the market is soft?
Neal Martin’s most recent and original en primeur note below.
Château Beychevelle, St Julien 2016
£450 per 6 bottle case in bond
95 points, Neal Martin, vinous.com, March 2023
The 2016 Beychevelle has a very intense, slightly more introverted bouquet than other 2016s that I have tasted: blackberry, incense, cedar and light graphite aromas emerging with time. This is quite Pauillac in style. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, a well-built and structured Beychevelle with ample freshness - more than the 2010 tasted alongside. Based on this showing, the 2016 might be entering a closed phase, so cellar it away for several years. Tasted at the Beychevelle vertical at the property. Drink 2028-2055
96-98 points, Neal Martin, robertparker.com, April 2017
The 2016 Beychevelle is a blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc cropped at 45 hectoliters per hectare between 3 October and 18 October. It is matured in 50% new oak. Furthermore, it is the first vintage to be matured in the new chichi winery whose glass exterior overlooks the passing traffic on the D2. It has a very pure, fragrant bouquet with black cherries, cassis, cedar and wet limestone, extremely precise to the point where you might think it was from the Right Bank (logical given the proportion of Merlot in the blend). The palate is sensational: understated at first and bridled with ultra-fine tannin, it is a Beychevelle armed with a disarming sense of symmetry. It builds in the mouth towards a fabulously tensile finish that is so fresh and full of energy that the senses are almost overwhelmed. Frankly, it leaves all the other Beychevelles in recent years standing. This is an electrifying 2016 from winemaker Philippe Blanc and his right-hand man, technical director, Romain Ducolomb. Drink 2026-2060
Please let us know of your interest.
Richard
richard.omahony@atlasfinewines.com