By Chateau Beauregard
Pomerol 2016

Vineyard Details
Appellation: Pomerol
Vineyard Area: 17.5 hectares (43 acres)
Average Vine Age: 35 years
Terroir: Clay-gravel on the southeast edge of the famous Pomerol plateau
Havest: Manual, plot by plot, from September 28 to October 14, 2016

Vintage Details
The first six months of the year were very wet. By the end of March, we had already recorded rainfall twice the usual amount. With this humidity, the mild winter triggered an early budding in the vines. The temperatures during the following months slowed the vine cycle. Then, a combination of heavy rains and mild temperatures led to high vine disease pressure, especially downy mildew. Meticulous preventive work, with spray treatments, enabled us to get through this period without any serious damage. The month of July marked the end of the summer rains, and a severe drought then set in. During August and September, temperatures were markedly higher than average. Water stress, which is necessary for producing high-quality grapes, gradually set in. A bout of rain at the beginning of September "unblocked" the young vines growing in low-moisture soils and favored ripening across all plots. Thanks to this almost miraculous weather, our grapes reached perfect ripeness in each plot. Precise control of crop size was necessary to achieve this optimal ripeness. The harvest was therefore late and long drawn out. We were able to take advantage of an Indian summer that lasted for the first two weeks of October. The homogeneity of the grapes' ripeness was outstanding this year. After precision vinification to bring out the purity, balance, complexity, and elegance of our crop, the tastings we carried out during aging demonstrated the value of all the efforts we made throughout the growing season and promised an outstanding future for the 2016. A demanding vintage that required constant vigilance, but which will likely have produced one of the greatest wines at the estate.

Production
Sorting: Two manual sorting tables, a high-frequency destemmer, and an optical sorting line
Aging: 60% in new oak barrels for 18 months, 7 different cooperages
Blend: Merlot, Cabernet Franc
Total Acidity: 3.2 g/l
pH: 3.71

Vinification
Intra-plot. The gravity-flow vat cellar receives the grapes in small 3-hl mobile bins brought by lift. 22 new tronco-conical concrete vats received this vintage in parcel lots. Alcoholic fermentation was conducted at 26 to 30 degrees C, depending on the lot's potential in the vat and the desired tannin extraction. Vatting lasted between 3 and 5 weeks. Malolactic fermentation was done in new barrels for the best vats of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
[Information provided by Beyerman]

Wine: Chateau Beauregard Pomerol 2016
Score/Rating: 96
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink from 2025
Review Date: 01/15/2019
Reviewed By: James Suckling
Tasting Notes: Beautiful aromas of plums, flowers, truffles, earth, and hot stones. Full-bodied, yet the very fine and polished tannins have fabulous poise and elegance. Plush. Love the finish. One of the best ever from here. Drink from 2025.

Wine: Chateau Beauregard, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, 2016
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: 2024 - 2040
Review Date: 03/04/2020
Reviewed By: Jane Anson
Tasting Notes: This has more concentration than the 2015, less immediately seductive but the layers are evident, and it's hard to fault the construction. Plush and sexy and full of Pomerol pleasure, but also real depth, power and spice. Lovely wine, with the juicy saline kick on the finish that you want in Beauregard. Love this, but needs time - those tannins are chewy right now.

Wine: 2016 Chateau Beauregard
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: 2019 - 2034
Review Date: 02/28/2019
Reviewed By: Jeb Dunnuck
Tasting Notes: I loved the 2016 Chateau Beauregard, which was firing on all cylinders during my visit. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully pure, with good acidity and a meaty nose of black fruits, truffle, bouquet garni, and earth, it’s beautifully balanced and about as classic Pomerol as it gets. Give bottles another handful of years and it will deliver the goods over the following 10-15.

Wine: 2016 Chateau Beauregard
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: 2020 - 2043
Review Date: 11/30/2018
Reviewed By: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Tasting Notes: Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2016 Beauregard is a little closed on the nose, opening to warm black plums, blackberries and mulberries with touches of chocolate box and dried herbs plus violets hints. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm, grainy and packed with muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy.

Wine: 2016 Beauregard
Score/Rating: 92
Suggested Drinking Window: 2028 - 2040
Review Date: 06/19/2025
Reviewed By: Chris Kissack
Tasting Notes: As with a number of 2016s I have tasted in Bordeaux over the past couple of years, this example from Beauregard is showing very well right now. A blend of [...] Cabernet Franc and [...] Merlot, this was the second vintage to be vinified in the new cellars. I think the aromatics are quite charming, with layers of powdered chalk over an array of primary fruit notes including perfumed griottes, black raspberry and blackcurrant, lifted by floral notes suggestive of violets, with a little touch of currant and black tea leaf evolution. Textured and softly polished on the palate, this has the same confident fruit and early secondary development seen on the nose, along with touches of toasted tobacco. It all comes intertwined with fine tannins which lend the palate a lightly peppery energy. Nicely done. Poured from magnum.

Wine: Chateau Beauregard Pomerol 2016
Score/Rating: 92
Suggested Drinking Window: 2023 - 2033
Review Date: 01/31/2019
Reviewed By: James Molesworth
Tasting Notes: Structured from the start, with a light charcoal edge and a strong graphite spine supporting the core of dark plum, blueberry and acai berry flavors. Tobacco and alder details are etched on the finish, with the fruit driving through. Slightly taciturn in style, but cellaring should lighten the mood. Best from 2023 through 2033.

Wine: 2016 Chateau Beauregard (Pomerol)
Score/Rating: 91
Review Date: 09/21/2019
Reviewed By: Jeff Leve
Tasting Notes: Floral in character, you can just start to see the truffle, tobacco, plum and cocoa. Soft, silky and fresh, there is plenty of fresh, sweet cherries in the finish to keep you busy. Give it a few years to soften and develop.

Wine: Chateau Beauregard 2016 Barrel Sample (Pomerol)
Score/Rating: 90
Review Date: 04/01/2017
Reviewed By: Roger Voss
Tasting Notes: 89-91. Barrel Sample. The ripe fruit is showing well in this property, which has the same winemaking team as Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in Pessac-Leognan. It is a rich, spicy wine with soft tannins and acidity at the end.

Wine: 2016 Chateau Beauregard
Score/Rating: 89+
Suggested Drinking Window: 2023 - 2038
Review Date: 01/2020
Reviewed By: Neal Martin
Tasting Notes: The 2016 Beauregard is bestowed with intense black cherry and boysenberry fruit, melted tar and graphite notes coming through with aeration and becoming quite high-toned. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins. Fleshy but not deep, featuring nicely judged acidity, although the finish is straightforward and needs a little more personality to develop. It may have just shut down temporarily. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Wine: Ch Beauregard 2016 Pomerol
Score/Rating: 15/20
Suggested Drinking Window: 2022 - 2030
Review Date: 02/26/2026
Reviewed By: Jancis Robinson
Tasting Notes: Tasted blind. Just a little sweaty on the nose. Fruit is a bit feebler than in some with the tannin starting to dominate.