2016 Château de Francs Les Cerisiers Francs Côtes de Bordeaux 750 ml

This bold, plush Château de Francs Les Cerisiers leaves no doubt that Bordeaux is one of the greatest playgrounds in the world for bargain hunters, especially when bottles from the 2016 vintage are up for grabs. 

With 93 points from James Suckling, this wine was crafted under the watchful eye of co-owner Hubert de Boüard, a 100-point winemaker whose former project Château Angélus sits a mere 20 minutes to the west.

The 2016 Angélus checks in at just over $440 per bottle on average, yet Château de Francs shares a version of the clay-limestone terroir that sits underneath this majestic estate, and pushes Merlot to extraordinary heights. Throw in the fact that 2016 saw exceptional quality “across the Bordeaux hierarchy,” as Wine Enthusiast puts it, and we have a steal of a wine that doesn’t come around very often.

The nose alone, with its ripe red currant, plum, red cherry, violet, and cedar notes, is evidence that the Château de Francs possesses a complexity that vastly exceeds its suggested retail price. After the initial rush of fresh blackberry, Cerisiers is defined by chewy tannins and a firm structure tinged with irresistible baking spice notes that make opening a second bottle a foregone conclusion.  

The 2016 Château de Francs took us to that night in Dallas a few years back when the wine first hit our glasses. We were visiting an importer friend, who suggested we meet for dinner at a pizzeria with one of the most generous BYOB policies in town. Sitting down, we figured that three large mushroom and sausage pizzas would fortify us against the twelve bottles of wine we had brought.

Two pizzas and six bottles in, we heard another cork pop. “You guys have to try this 2009. It’s absolutely insane!” said our friend. 

The 2009 Bordeaux wines had just been released, and the word “legendary” was already being tossed around to sum up the vintage. We’d had several 2009s by that point, but the Château de Francs Les Cerisiers proved to be the wine of the night. 

That perfect balance of firm tannins and ripe berry fruit—which also defines the 2016—was on clear display. With this beauty’s aging potential clearly revealed, we committed then and there to as many bottles as we could secure. In a top vintage, Bordeaux values don’t get much better than this.