2016 Rol Valentin
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Rol Valentin has a perfumed bouquet of black cherries, blackberry and loamy aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine bead of acidity and quite tensile, revealing black-pepper-tinged red fruit laced with cedar on the finish. This is a more classically styled Rol-Valentin that should age well over the next decade. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Wine Enthusiast
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Youthful, aromatic with lots of both fruit and tannin that is still far from resolved but the ingredients are there. Just not that distinctive. (JR)
The 2016 Rol Valentin has a medium to deep garnet-purple color and offers up straight-laced, serious notions of fragrant earth, cigar box and sautéed herbs over a core of warm plums, mulberries and blueberry preserves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is completely packed with muscular fruit, with a firm, grainy texture and loads of freshness, finishing long and berry laced.
Spice, black cherries, earth, and forest floor notes all emerge from the 2016 Château Rol Valentin, a ripe, sexy, beautifully balanced effort that delivers the goods. With silky tannins, medium to full body, no hard edges, and a great finish, it's well worth seeking out. This wine is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc brought up in a small amount of new oak, with a touch in concrete eggs as well.