CHÂTEAU MONBOUSQUET

The 2016 Monbousquet is a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon cropped at 38 hectoliters per hectare at 14.46% alcohol. It was picked between 6-11 October and matured in 70% new oak, the remainder one-year-old barrels. It offers an opulent but well defined bouquet of black cherries, violets and fresh fig, a little tight initially but soon unfolding in the glass. The palate is quite rich and generous on the opening with layers of blackberry and raspberry laced with graphite and a pinch of cracked black pepper. It tapers in a little towards the finish, completing a bold and assertive Monbousquet that is likely to require four or five years in bottle in order to soften those tannins. Interestingly, the sample tasted at Pavie was a little more flamboyant than the more classically styled one that I tasted elsewhere and preferred. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 90-92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)

Very dark purple. Rich, red fruits taken to the limit. Raspberry jam initially but rescued by freshness on the end. Great drama and a bit of alcohol on the end. Stylistically Perse rather than St-Émilion but well-done tarry end. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)

This is packed with fig, boysenberry and raspberry fruit flavors that keep cascading over one another while enticing anise and plum cake notes fill in throughout. Gorgeous mouthfeel, with a creamy, rounded edge, yet never giving up a generally racy and focused feel. Rating: 93-96 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)

This is very layered and firm with beautiful tannins and richness. Full-bodied, tight and spicy with lovely depth. Refined and pretty. Rating: 94-95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)

This is still in full Monbousquet extraction mode, even though they have changed the grape blend to 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. They are clearly looking at introducing a more sculpted, fresh feel. The terroir is an early-ripener which meant the heat will have been difficult, and this is a little heavy. 70% new oak, 3.65pH. Drinking range: 2027 - 2050 Rating: 89 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)

Black cherry, plum, bittersweet chocolate, espresso and spice infuse the 2016 Monbousquet. Many of the wines in the Perse stable are made in a less extracted style than in the past. Monbousquet appears to be the exception. This is an especially pushed, voluptuous style. Rating: 88-90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)

A combination of vintage conditions and a slight shift in style has worked wonders at Monbousquet in 2016. Smoky, mocha oak, fine, but dense tannins, crunchy blackberry and blackcurrant fruit and much brighter, fresher acidity than one is used to here. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 92 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)