Château Les Grandes Murailles 2016

Tasting characteristics and advice for Château Les Grandes Murailles 2016

Tasting

Color
The color reveals a deep ruby-red hue with violet and garnet highlights.

Nose
The nose offers lovely aromatic complexity, with notes of black fruits (blackcurrant, blackberry, plum) accompanied by floral nuances of violet and dried rose. Spicy touches of black pepper and licorice mingle with aromas of cedar, tobacco, and graphite, reflecting well-mastered aging.

Palate
On the palate, the wine charms with its silky, velvety texture. The attack is round, followed by a concentrated mid-palate with fine, elegant tannins. Flavors of red and black fruits linger, enhanced by saline mineral notes characteristic of the terroir. The finish stretches out with persistent aromas of cedar, licorice, and tobacco, offering freshness and balance.

Food and wine pairings
This wine pairs perfectly with roasted red meats, game, and duck. It also matches very well with dishes in sauce, especially those featuring mushrooms or truffles, as well as with aged hard cheeses.

Serving and cellaring
This wine can be enjoyed now but will continue to evolve until at least 2035. It is recommended to serve it at a temperature of 16-18°C. Decanting for one hour will allow its aromatic complexity to fully express itself.

An outstanding Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé with a refined character

The estate
In Saint-Émilion, Château Les Grandes Murailles stands out for its exceptionally rare 2-hectare vineyard, enclosed by walls and planted with 100% Merlot on clay-limestone soils, at the foot of a medieval remnant of a 12th-century Dominican convent. Long managed by the Reiffers family since the 17th century, it now belongs to the Cuvelier family, also owners of Clos Fourtet.

The vineyard
The vineyard covers 2 hectares in the heart of the Saint-Émilion appellation. The Merlot vines rest on an outstanding clay-limestone terroir, characteristic of Saint-Émilion’s great terroirs. This soil, made up of clay and limestone over a deep limestone plateau, gives the wine its distinctive minerality and promotes optimal grape ripening. The harvest is carried out by hand with rigorous berry selection.

The vintage
The 2016 vintage in Bordeaux is considered exceptional. After a rainy winter and spring that replenished water reserves, the summer proved particularly dry and sunny. These ideal weather conditions, combined with significant temperature variations between day and night at the end of the season, made it possible to obtain grapes at optimal ripeness, combining concentration, freshness, and aromatic complexity.

Winemaking and aging
The grapes from this vintage are hand-harvested and then vinified in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, helping to preserve the fruit’s aromatic purity. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barrels. The wine is then aged for 18 to 20 months in 100% new French oak barrels, in the quarries located beneath the vineyard. This extended aging encourages the harmonious integration of oak aromas and the development of the wine’s complexity.

Grape variety
100% Merlot