2016 Le Petit Verdot by Bellevue (Haut Medoc)

It’s not often that petit verdot, extremely rare as a varietal wine in Bordeaux, manages to show some elegance, but this does. Not just eye-popping black fruit, but also smoky and savory notes. Full, but powdery tannins give it good length and there’s appealing freshness at the finish. Drink or hold.

The 2016 Le Petit Verdot by Belle-Vue is just as compelling from bottle as it was from barrel. Crème de cassis, menthol, violet, plum, lavender, licorice and bittersweet chocolate are some of the many notes that run through this super-expressive, flavorful Haut-Médoc. Exotic and sumptuous to the core, the 2016 is flat-out delicious and one of the sleepers of the year. I absolutely loved it.

This new cuvée from Belle-Vue is produced on a 2.04-hectare parcel. This 100% Petit Verdot wine comes from old vineyards planted in 1936, 1940 and 1950 whose average age in 2016 was 77 years. It was aged in French oak, 20% new, with 15% of production matured in amphorae. It was aged for a total of 14 months. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Le Petit Verdot by Belle-Vue opens with provocatively earthy notes emerging on the nose of fertile loam, tar and scorched earth with a red and black currants core plus a hint of wild thyme. Medium to full-bodied with a firm, grainy texture from nicely ripe tannins, it has a great core of expressive fruit and a long mineral-tinged finish. About 833 cases were made.