2016 La Grave a Pomerol

The 2016 Château La Grave comes from a 19-acre vineyard of gravelly, clay soils and is mostly Merlot with 4% Cabernet Franc. It offers a classic Pomerol bouquet of dark cherry and currant fruits intermixed with notions of damp earth, truffle, tobacco leaf, and cedar. This is followed by an incredibly elegant, seamless red that has nicely integrated acidity, beautiful balance, and the purity of fruit that's the hallmark of the vintage. Drink it any time over the coming 15 years or more.

The 2016 La Grave Trigant de Boisset is just a little pinched on the nose compared to some of its peers, perhaps showing just a touch of reduction. The well-balanced palate is conservative and linear, with supple tannin, a fine thread of acidity and a tensile finish. Usually this drinks fairly young, but the 2016 deserves three or four years in bottle and should give 15 years of drinking pleasure.

This has some attractive depth to the fruit aromas with ripe dark plums and berries, swathed in herbs and dark chocolate. The palate has a plush, long and dense core with assertively fluid tannins, delivering a luxuriant, fresh finish. Try from 2023.