2016 Chateau La Tour de Mons Margaux Cru Bourgeois 750 ml

We’ve been drinking the same case of under-the-radar 2010 La Tour de Mons for nearly a decade—usually with a grilled ribeye or rack of lamb—and every year, its value proposition grows stronger and stronger. This overachieving estate is a rule-breaker, a quiet exception, reminding us that extraordinary value can exist alongside long-lived brilliance, even in Bordeaux. 

That is, if you can get your hands on it. For years, as our case of 2010 has gotten better and better—encouraging us to continue the hunt—we’ve been knocking on La Tour de Mons’ double-doors in search of an allocation for Wine Access members. Finally, it’s here. Today’s 94-point 2016 is not just replenishment for our near-empty stash, it’s the highest-rated La Tour de Mons ever, a must-have for savvy buyers and collectors alike.

Like all top-tier Margaux, the 2016 is charming and elegant, but underneath the floral aromatics and silken texture, it roars with deeper currents of black fruit, pipe tobacco, truffle, and spice. Wine Enthusiast called it “enormously powerful,” awarding Cellar Selection honors, while Decanter labeled it a “brilliant value for [the] money.” 

The 100-point author of the 2016 is consulting oenologist Hubert de Boüard of Château Angélus fame. Working in tandem with Anne Le Naour, also winemaker at legendary Grand-Puy-Ducasse, de Boüard could hardly have a better teammate to translate the 100-acre 13th-century estate into the glass. As Decanter echoed, the 2016 “is benefitting from recent investments together with the sure touch of technical director Anne Le Naour.” 

The seamless blend of 56% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6% Petit Verdot was hand-picked from vines up to 40 years old, planted in well draining, gravelly soil—thus the wine’s incredible intensity and “taut, mineral texture.” The result perfectly captures the quintessential elegance of Margeaux without pumping the breaks even for a second. 

The “powerful” 2016’s “firm and silky tannins,” as James Suckling wrote in his matching 93-94-point review, guarantee a longevity akin to the 2010 that has inspired us for so many years. That wine has added depth, complexity, and polish—dried cranberry, blackberry, fig, forest floor, and tar—in gorgeous hues since we popped the first cork, and so will the 2016.