2016 Chateau d’Armailhac Pauillac
2016 Chateau d’Armailhac Pauillac
Blend: 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
James Suckling (95/100)
This is a really driven d’Armailhac showing blackcurrants and fruit tea with hints of bark on the nose and palate. Full-bodied, very firm and structured with a long and powerful finish. Direct and linear. Try after 2023.
Jeb Dunnuck (94/100)
A thrilling bottle of wine that readers should snatch up is the 2016 Chateau d’Armailhac. This deeply colored, medium to full-bodied, powerful Armailhac gives up a lovely perfume of blackberry and plums fruits, violets, graphite, cedar pencil, and earthy, herbal nuances. Classic, ripe, layered, and just a beautiful Pauillac any way you look at it, it has plenty of upfront sex appeal but is going to keep for 20-25 years as well. Bravo! The 2016 is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.
Chateau d’Armailhac, classified as a Fifth Growth in 1855, is a close neighbor of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Its 123 acres of vines, surrounding the beautiful grounds of the main house, are planted with the typical varieties of the region: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.
The estate, in the d’Armailhacq family since the 18th century and named Chateau Mouton d’Armailhacq after them, was acquired by Baron Philippe in 1933. Between 1956 and 1989, it was called successively Chateau Mouton Baron Phillipe then Chateau Mouton Baronne Phillipe. In 1989, Baroness Phillipine de Rothschild restored part of its original identity, renaming it Chateau d’Armailhac. The wine, aged in oak casks, combines finesse and elegance with powerful, well-structured tannins.