Château Carbonnieux 2016

Well-built, with a core of dense plum paste, raspberry reduction and melted red licorice notes framed by roasted apple wood accents and backed by juicy, brambly grip on the finish. Youthfully vibrant and should cellar well in the midterm. Best from 2021 through 2031. 15,000 cases made.

Château Carbonnieux has returned to traditional working of the soils and is trialling organic farming methods. The property consists of 119 plots with a range of clay, gravels, sand and limestone soils. The 2016 blends 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, aged 16–18 months in 35% new oak barrels. Andy Howard MW: Toasty oak on the nose, but there’s plenty of concentration to allow this to integrate over time. Dark fruit, berry and cherry. Crisp acidity with a bitter cherry edge to the finish. Robert Mathias: Nose is quite closed, but quite classical with savoury spice and good concentration of black fruits. Refreshing acidity and firm, sinewy tannin. Tim Triptree MW: Intense aromatics, earthy and savoury, cedar, leather with ripe black berries and plum. Opulent, great Pessac typicity.

The 2016 Carbonnieux has gained tremendous richness and depth with élevage. A whole range of sweet tobacco, menthol, savory herbs, leather and licorice notes flesh out as this powerful, super-expressive wine opens in the glass. From barrel, the 2016 was quite gracious, but today, from bottle, it is far deeper and richer.

This is another Pessac-Léognan that rocks in 2016! With good depth of color, the perfume of smoky fruits, flowers, earth and tobacco leaf is great. And on the palate, the medium-bodied, refined wine is already easy to drink, leaving you with a core of silky, fresh, gravelly red cherries.

Pure nose, fine hints of butterscotch, gentle oak blending red and dark fruit with tobacco and dried herbs. The palate has a medium body with dense fruit, rounded tannin, fine oak and toast notes with coffee bean and aromatic herb flavours. Nicely balanced in a classic elegant frame yet with a nice dimension of juicy red fruit, cassis and long finish.

Notes of red and black currants, truffles, smoked earth, and graphite emerge from the 2016 Château Carbonnieux. Medium-bodied, ripe, with present tannins and good acidity, it has an old-school vibe and is classic Graves. Drink it over the coming 10-15 years.

Dark garnet. On the nose, dark cherries and herbes de Provence, with noble wood in the background. On the palate, fleshy and muscular, it comes across a little austere, finishing long and dense with tobacco-like spice and sloe juice.

Kunz barrel sample 17: peppery, spicy, fresh, powerful bouquet, cassis, tobacco, black pepper, graphite. Powerful, aromatic palate with good fruit, plenty of tannins, fine, sandy tannins, dark, intense aromatics, a classic, muscular structure, long, powerful finish.

Peppery, spicy, fresh, powerful bouquet; cassis, tobacco, black pepper, graphite. Powerful, aromatic palate with good fruit, plenty of tannins, fine, silky tannins, deep dark aromatics, classic, muscular structure, long, vigorous finish. 17/20 2022 - 2038

Deep garnet in color, the 2016 Carbonnieux Rouge skips out with easy-going scents of warm plums and black cherries, plus wafts of blackcurrant, tilled soil, and bay leaves with a hint of graphite. The medium-bodied palate is laden with vibrant black fruits, framed by grainy tannins and bags of freshness, finishing earthy.

Fresh small red fruits, Zan, small black berries. Broad, fresh palate, slightly firm tannins, a slightly drying finish.

Purplish garnet red. A delicate bouquet with notes of black pepper and raspberries. A touch of dried herbs. On the palate, the wine is balanced, juicy, and endowed with perfectly integrated tannins. The structure brings freshness, but the aromatic expression remains subdued. For now, Carbonnieux fails to confirm what I tasted during the En Primeur.

Dark, intense, vibrant, beautiful purple color. A moderately intense nose with pure, ripe, and fairly subtle fruit. A rather perfumed presence. Supple from the first sip, then melting and airy on the mid-palate, strongly marked by the vintage in its bright fruit expression, the wine caresses the palate. It finishes smooth, with no hard edges, and even perfumed. Delicious. A great success for the estate.

Packed with young tannins, this wine shows the structure of the vintage as well as its fresh and perfumed fruit. The combination will develop to produce a restrained and elegant wine. Drink from 2025.