2016 Petit Gravet Aine
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Tasting notes
From a site just across the road from Château Canon-La Gaffelière, the 2016 Château Petit Gravet Aîné is a Cabernet Franc-dominated blend that includes 20% Merlot, all aged 14 months in new French oak. Deeply colored, with a rocking bouquet of blackberries, plums, forest floor, and leafy herbs, this beauty packs a punch and is full-bodied, beautifully layered, has fine tannins, and a dense, backward, closed style just begging for bottle age. It’s mostly potential at this point, but it’s impressive. I’d give bottles 5-7 years if possible, and it will cruise over the following two decades or more.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Some quite brassy aromas with a distinctive, violet edge. Cedary oak bites on the palate, as well as a deep, plum core that sits fresh and plush on the finish. A blend of 80 per cent cabernet franc and 20 per cent merlot. Try from 2020.
The 2016 Petit Gravet Ainé is dense, sumptuous and exotic in its beauty. I am quite taken aback by the wine's sheer concentration, which among other things, hides some of the expressive Cabernet Franc signatures that are often present in the wine. Even so, the 2016 is wonderfully persistent. Fruit intensity and structure are nicely balanced, while the aromatics need a bit of time to fully emerge.
The 2016 Petit Gravet Aine is a blend of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot aged for 14 months in 100% new Taransaud and Ana Sélection French oak barrels. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges forth with gregarious roses and violets scents with a core of kirsch, redcurrant jelly and wild blueberries plus tilled soil, pencil shavings and fallen leaves. Rich, opulent and perfumed in the mouth, it is full-bodied and very firm with wonderfully ripe tannins and a long spicy finish. About 916 cases produced.