CHÂTEAU LA GARDE
2016 Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan
62% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc 5%, Petit Verdot 2%. Purple and dark, this is a lovely bright fleshy Graves with a powerful tight weave of fruit and fine tannin - excellent length to the fruit. Drinking range: 2023 - 2032 Rating: 91-92 L&S (Apr 2017)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2016 La Garde has a lifted bouquet of violet-tinged red fruit, mint and light cedar scents. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and simple black fruit laced with tobacco, leading to a nicely defined if straitlaced finish that just needs 3–4 years in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2023 - 2035 Rating: 90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Aug 2020)
Coming from the consulting team of Michel Rolland, the 2016 Château La Garde is a beauty from the Graves region that delivers classic notes of tobacco and leafy herbs, gravelly minerality, smoked earth, and assorted dark fruits. Deep ruby/purple-colored, medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannins and a mouthfilling texture, I’d happily drink bottles over the coming 10-15 years. Drinking range: 2019 - 2034 Rating: 90 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
The 2016 La Garde is plump, juicy and expressive, with lovely savory notes that add nuance to the dark, fleshed fruit. Time and élevage have done much to help the 2016 find its focus. This is very nicely done. Drinking range: 2019 - 2024 Rating: 89 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jan 2019)
The 2016 La Garde, blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot, offers dark berry fruit on the nose, hints of cedar and sandalwood, nicely poised and gaining intensity in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, rounded in the mouth with black tea-tinged dark berry fruit and a composed, harmonious and almost easygoing finish. This is a step up from the 2015. Drinking range: 2019 - 2025 Rating: 88-90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot. Very dark crimson. Light and fresh and concentrated. Really exciting, nervy, silky wine. Cool and beautiful balanced. Drinking range: 2022 - 2034 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)
This sports a warm fruitcake note out front, followed by slightly toothy plum and raspberry paste flavors, turning to licorice hints on the well-toasted finish. A bit ambitious, but the showy fruit will have fans. Rating: 90-93 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)
Soft and round tannins frame pretty chocolate and spice character. Medium to full body and lots of juicy fruit. Not quite at the 2015’s quality level but very pretty. Rating: 91-92 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)
A Douthe Vignobles estate that has been investing heavily in replanting and reordering the vineyard, and has been a value pick for a number of years. This strays towards crushed ripe blackberry sweetness with grilled almonds on the finish, and good persistency. This is playing very nicely to the crowd, a well judged medium term drinker with integrated tannins and good impact, a fairly contemporary style. 62% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 91 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)
The 2016 La Garde has a lifted bouquet of violet-tinged red fruit, mint and light cedar scents. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and simple black fruit laced with tobacco, leading to a nicely defined if straitlaced finish that just needs 3–4 years in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2023 - 2035 Rating: 90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 1899)
Château La Garde
Château La Garde is a medium-sized property with 47 hectares of vineyards in Pessac-Léognan, planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. The Cabernet-dominated red wines are soft, well structured and packed with smooth, ripe fruit which makes them very attractive young, though they also possess good medium-term cellaring potential. Bought by the dynamic Bordeaux merchant Dourthe in the 1980s, this gem of an estate displays the true Graves minerality underneath an exuberant cassis-and-plums aroma. After huge initial investment in the vineyard and cellar immense care is now lavished upon the wine itself, and any re-assessment of the Pessac-Léognan classification would surely see this wine elevated to Cru Classé status
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.