Bordeaux 2016 looks to be an excellent year for red wines but for the white wines of Pessac-Léognan the results seem uneven. The drought conditions across the summer that lasted well into September have yielded a varied range of wines. Some excellent whites have been made, but there is not the homogeneity of vintages like 2012, 2014 and 2015. A few whites felt flabby, unexpressive and low in acidity. The best, unsurprisingly, came from the finest terroirs that could deal with the dry conditions. Château Haut-Brion Blanc, Château La Mission Haut-Brion and Château Smith Haut Lafitte lead the pack. Château Carbonnieux, Domaine de Chevalier, Château de Fieuzal, Château Malartic-Lagravière and Château Olivier are not far behind in quality. These are all excellent. Expect Château Bouscaut, Château Haut-Bergey and Château Larrivet Haut-Brion to be very good also. Château Pape Clément, usually up there with the best, felt subdued. Doubtless many whites [Pape Clément included] will all benefit from ‘filling out’ a little during elévage. Still 2016 still doesn’t have the excitement for me of previous white wine vintages here.

As you’d expect excellent red wines have been produced here in 2016. Both Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion show poise and depth. Qualitatively speaking the wines felt slightly pipped to the post by the Pauillac first growths, and in Pessac-Léognan by an exceptional Château Haut-Bailly, but these are still very impressive efforts. The alcohols are more manageable than some of the recent years here and are a degree down from 2015. The drought and summer heat proved a challenging one for the whites. Don’t get me wrong, La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc and Haut-Brion Blanc have still made seriously good wines, but they are slightly off the pace of the best white wine vintages here [2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015 immediately spring to mind].