Chateau Lagrange 2016

Professional Ratings

• 95 James Suckling
  The best wine from this château in many years! A huge, dramatic, blackcurrant and wild-blackberry nose and the first impression on the palate is every bit as intense. Nice acidity lifts this massive structure and keeps the imposing finish so fresh. Drink or hold.
• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Lagrange sashays out of the glass with notions of candied violets, cassis, underbrush and warm black plums with waves of Black Forest cake, cedar chest and yeast extract scents. Medium to full-bodied, the bags of perfumed black fruits are solidly structured with super ripe, grainy tannins, finishing long and layered.
• 95 Decanter
  The acidities are more vibrant up in St-Julien than in the lower stretches of the Médoc. An excellent Lagrange, this is every bit as good as it was en primeur, with a similar fruit quality doing a lovely vertical trick through the mid-palate where you can feel each individual element's weight, but cushioned on a bed of air. Ruby in colour with some violet around the edges, this wine is well made and built to last. Chewy tannins and black fruits make this fairly Pauillac in style. At 50% of total production in 2016, this represents the highest proportion of grand vin for years following replantings back in the 1980s.
• 95 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
  COMMENTARY: Over the past twenty years, Château Lagrange has been one of my consistent Saint-Julien favorites. Always making sure the wines' fruit remains expressive, this wine never uses wood to overpower its true essence. In the 2016 vintage, the winery has produced one of the top wines from this already highly acclaimed vintage. TASTING NOTES: This wine is on point with its balance and richness. Its aromas and flavors of ripe red and black fruits, with just an accent of oak, should pair it deliciously with lighter as well as richer meat dishes. (Tasted: January 25, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
• 94 Wine Spectator
  A textbook St.-Julien, with a fleshy yet focused beam of plum, blueberry and cassis flavors striding through, while warmed anise, sweet tobacco and iron notes play backup through the finish. Mouthwatering grip will allow this to cellar nicely. Best from 2024 through 2038.
• 94 Jeb Dunnuck
  The Grand Vin 2016 Château Lagrange checks in 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot brought up in equal parts new and used barrels. It shows the fresher, elegant style of the vintage and offers beautiful black cherry and cassis fruits intermixed with tobacco leaf, damp earth, and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully pure, seamless, and layered, it has a vibrant, tight texture, terrific tannin quality, and a great finish. It's a quintessential expression of this vintage. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two to three decades.
• 91 Wine Enthusiast
  Surprisingly light for the vintage, this is an attractive, black-currant-flavored wine. It is open, with tannins integrate easily into the fruitiness. All this suggests the wine will age relatively quickly, so drink from 2024.