2016 Pavillon Blanc du Ch Margaux

Always based on Sauvignon Blanc and brought up in 20% new French oak, the 2016 Pavillon Blanc shows a racy, reductive style that slowly opens up in the glass and shows more and more richness. Beautiful notes of crushed citrus, tart peach, and bright minerality all emerge from this medium-bodied, concentrated white that has high yet integrated acidity, flawless balance, and a great finish. It’s hard to resist, yet I suspect it will keep for decades.

The 2016 Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux, which was bottled in May, has a beguiling bouquet of Golden Delicious apple, Williams pear and light crushed stone aromas that gently unfold in the glass. The palate is very well balanced with a taut line of acidity (in fact, the pH is 3.10 in this vintage) – citrus-fresh with impressive tension. A live-wire Pavillon Blanc with great sustain on the rich finish and a tang of ginger on the aftertaste. Superb.

The 2016 Pavillon Blanc is impressive today. I am especially captivated by the wine's tremendous aromatic presence and overall persistence. In the glass, the 2016 offers an enticing interplay of fruit richness and perfume, with strands of salinity that give the wine shape and energy. Citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers add the closing shades of nuance.