Château Fayat 2016

This has an exotic hint, with warm fig and boysenberry compote flavors forming the core, along with a healthy dose of licorice root, roasted apple wood and sweet tobacco notes. Features a slightly woodsy texture but the fruit keeps pace, ending with an echo of incense. Best from 2022 through 2031. 2,833 cases made.

Fayat combines the freshness of the vintage with beautifully deep, vibrant red fruits. Lovely persistency and elegance, showing restraint despite the 50% new oak. Merlot vines over 100 years old planted on gravel make up 10% of the blend, which overall is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. 3.7 pH.

Rich and dark, with blood-orange and red-fruit aromas, and a deep-set array of quite ripe, rich tannins that carry well into the plum-soaked finish. Attractive build and depth here. Try from 2021.

Medium-bodied, with an earthy, olive and red plum character, the wine is forward, soft, polished and accessible, leaving you with an earthy cherry core of fruits. The wine was made from a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

Purple garnet. Dense bouquet of redcurrant with rosewood, followed by fresh herbs and elderberry. On the palate, powerful with plenty of verve, very straight and vinified in line with the vintage. Long finish of redcurrant and lingonberry juice.

Kunz barrel sample 17: finely mineral, velvety, fruity bouquet, blackberries, black cherries, licorice. Velvety, plush palate with sweet fruit, fine tannins, powerful aromatics, good tannin, long, aromatic finish.

Finely mineral, velvety, fruity bouquet of blackberries, black cherries, and licorice. Velvety, generous palate with sweet fruit, fine tannins, powerful aromatics, good tannic structure, and a long, aromatic finish. 17/20 2023 - 2038

At the moment, the wine is showing sullen, with slightly decadent fruit.

Dense nose of black fruit, blackberry, black plum. Broad, indulgent palate, fresh, sappy, crunchy, with a lively finish.

The best ever made. Dark, intense, beautiful color. Fruity, ripe, vanilla-scented and very appealing nose. Broad palate, very fruity, flavorful and rich, with brightness and fine tannins. The finish leans a touch on the tannin, but the flavor is lovely.