Bordeaux 2016: The ‘Unexpected Vintage’ Hits 10 Years

The Bordeaux vintage that Vieux Chateau Certan managing director Guillaume Thienpont described as being “as miraculous as it was unexpected” has settled into its role as a classic year from the renowned French wine region – a deeply rewarding vintage to taste with a compelling backstory.

Thienpoint made his comment at the recent “10 Years On” retrospective organized by the international wine merchant Bordeaux Index in London’s tony Mayfair district, which revisited Bordeaux's singular 2016 vintage with a tasting of nearly a hundred wines from that year from the region’s top estates.

The character of 2016 was shaped by a sequence of extreme climatic events that ultimately resolved through timely rainfall and carefully made decisions in both vineyard and cellar. The result was wines of remarkable balance on both sides of the river.

A rainy winter and early spring that year gave way in June to a stretch of bright, warm days that helped flowering. Rain returned briefly before the growing season turned decisively dry. More than 80 days passed without significant rainfall, aside from a few isolated showers, until a generous downpour on Sept. 13 changed everything.

Adrien Bernard, whose family owns Domaine de Chevalier, said that he had never heard his father, Olivier, clamor for rain as much as he did that year. But when the precipitation finally arrived, it was decisive in shaping the wines. It slowed ripening and widened the harvest window, allowing estates to pick the fruit with pace and precision. It also created flexibility in harvest dates – one of the defining elements of 2016 and a key contributor to its balance.  

In such dry years, extraction becomes more sensitive: skins can be thicker and, as a result, tannins are more challenging. As Thienpont explained, the drier the vintage, the more careful and restrained extraction must be. But he added that rain at harvest is no longer viewed as a threat associated with dilution and disease. In 2016, it was part of the solution to what Chateau Haut-Bailly CEO Veronique Sanders said was “a vintage that slowly made itself.” And once the wines had settled in the cellar, Haut-Bailly fittingly christened the vintage Le Bonheur – “Happiness.”

Left Bank's Focus

Left Bank cabernet from 2016 is exceptional, showing focus, linearity, clarity of fruit and greater detail in the tannins. Alcohol levels are generally lower than in 2015, while acidity remains vibrant, giving the wines a more precise overall profile.

The comparison with 2015 is useful in understanding the nature of 2016. The former delivered generous wines with a broader dimension, helped both by the season and, following a sequence of leaner, more restrained vintages from 2011 to 2014, a clear eagerness for expressivity. By contrast, 2016 is more contained and composed. In spirit, it recalls 2010, but with a subtler, more nuanced structure – not a lesser quality, just a different expression. 

Among the standouts was the perfect-scoring Chateau Léoville Las Cases St.-Julien 2016, which embodies the vintage’s precision, with a floral lift and an expressivity that is particularly attractive. The Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 2016 is now beginning to open, showing generous yet composed fruit. Cos d’Estournel, meanwhile, delivered a brilliant expression of the year, compact but detailed and subtle. Other perfect-scoring wines include the Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 2016, Chateau Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan 2016 as well as the seamless and elegant Chateau Margaux Margaux 2016. 

A surprise was the Chateau Pontet-Canet 2016, which is expressive and herbal, marked by eucalyptus notes and a tenderness that has since evolved into a more ethereal profile. 

Right Bank's Completeness

On the Right Bank, the results were more heterogeneous, which is not unusual. In Pomerol, 2016 was a distinctive merlot vintage, defined by a long growing season that extended into early October at some estates. 

While expressions vary, the best wines showed completeness, mid-palate presence, and a clear sense of vibrancy. Wines such as the perfect-scoring Le Pin 2016 and Pétrus 2016 stood out for their ethereal texture and subtle tannins. The La Fleur-Pétrus 2016 and Hosanna 2016 showed silky textures, herbal notes and early approachability. The perfect-scoring Vieux Chateau Certan 2016 combined delicacy with clear structural definition – a sense of balance that Thienpont compared with the structure of 1950. 

In Saint-Emilion, the wines from estates such as Ausone, Bélair-Monange and Clos Fourtet stood out for their youthful energy, driven by chalky tannins, freshness and delineated red fruit. Wines like the Chateau Pavie 2016 and Chateau Angélus 2016 retained broader profiles and firmer structures, showing clear long-term potential. Closer in style to 2015, they will require additional time.  

The sole white wine poured was the Domaine de Chevalier Pessac de Léognan Blanc 2016, which is enjoying an  excellent moment. Bernard explained that the whites were harvested immediately after the September rains, preserving concentration while avoiding dilution. The result is a wine of volume and extract, which is now at a great moment. 

Tasting the 2016s brought a quiet surprise, with some wines showing better than they did on release, with integrated tannins, clearer fruit and greater length and detail. The vintage itself has not changed, but time has brought more balance and completeness. Across both banks, the wines offer a distinctive pleasure, with cabernet sauvignon proving the more reliable variety, where differences are less pronounced. If you love wines defined by clarity, structural integrity, balance, and precision, Bordeaux 2016 is the one to pick.

– Jacobo García Andrade, Senior Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.