2016 Clos de la Roche
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Taking plenty of air to unwind, the 2016 Clos De La Roche Grand Cru has a savory, earthy, yet complex style in its darker cherry and currant fruits as well as dried herbs, candied violets, and spice. This lifted, perfumed effort has medium-bodied richness, bright acidity, and present yet ripe and polished tannins. It certainly has all the right components, but it’s going to need another 4-5 years of bottle age to hit prime time and, I suspect, will keep for 15-20 years. It's always going to be a ripe, broader, more lifted wine, though.
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Allen Meadows, Burghound
More reviews and scores
Bright red-ruby. Complex, soil-inflected scents of black raspberry, smoke, stony minerality, licorice and fresh blood. Plusher and sweeter at this stage than the Bonnes-Mares, and equally earthy in a positive way. Gains in thickness toward the back end, but the building tannins are a touch dusty and herbal. A more saline style of wine than the Bonnes-Mares.
The 2016 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru was demonstrating quite a lot of new oak on the nose, although it has the same percentage as the premier crus at around 30%. This obscured some of the fruit underneath, yet it is still nicely defined and classier than the Bonnes-Mares. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannin, sweet and generous but maintaining fine tension with good substance and length on the finish. This might be the best offering from the domaine in 2016.