2016 Château Laroque, St Emilion, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2016 Laroque, now under the direction of David Suire, who works with Nicolas Thienpont (only at Beausejour Duffau and Larcis Ducasse, to be fair), is clearly a Saint-Émilion on the upswing. This latest bottled vintage is a joy. It delivers a substantial, complex bouquet, a mixture of black and blue fruit with a discreet warm gravel note evolving over the course of an hour. The palate is well balanced and impressively structured, presenting well-judged acidity and a classically styled, mineral-driven finish. Everything is in place for a great wine, but it deserves a minimum of five years in the cellar.
Drink 2023 - 2045
Neal Martin, vinous.com (Jan 2019)
The 2016 Laroque is blended of 95% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and 0.5% Cabernet Sauvignon from vines more than 50 years old and aged in 50% new French and Austrian oak. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it slowly unfurls to reveal a beautiful core of redcurrants, Morello cherries, wild blueberries and fresh plums with touches of lilacs, oolong tea, chargrill, bay leaves and yeast extract plus a hint of wet slate. Medium to full-bodied, taut and finely textured with ripe, grainy tannins, it has bold freshness cutting through the densely packed red and black fruit layers, finishing on a lingering mineral note.
Drink 2020 - 2036
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate (Mar 2019)
About this WINE
Château Laroque
Château Laroque is a large St. Emilion estate famous for its stunning 18th century château as well as for the quality of its wines. It is owned by the Beaumartin family and was granted Grand Cru Classé status in 1996.
Its 61 hectares of vineyards (27 of which are used for the Grand Vin) are situated in the commune of St. Christophe des Bardes and it produces nearly 25,000 cases a year. The blend is predominately Merlot based and the wine is aged in oak barrels for 12 months. In the best years it is packed with ripe and plummy fruit supported by a framework of supple tannins and balanced acidity.
St Émilion
St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank.
St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel.
Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol. Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.
In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices. The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.
St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012
Merlot
The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.
Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.
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Description
Laroque 2016 has a generous, enticing nose of juicy plum, black and red cherry, with undercurrents of black tea and dark chocolate. A delicate floral character adds an elegant lift. The palate is well-rounded and the body medium-full; kept in check by a line of acidity that continues through to the long finish. This wine is a perfect embodiment of Saint-Emilion and will please enormously whether drunk now, or after a few years in the cellar.
Drink now until 2038
Victoria Bull, Private Reserves Junior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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