2016 Château Pédesclaux Le Haut-Médoc de Pédesclaux Haut-Médoc Bordeaux 750 ml

Grown a stone’s throw from Mouton-Rothschild, Lafite, and Pontet-Canet, you would expect classic Bordeaux character—elegance, poise, kaleidoscopic complexity, and long-lived structure. You wouldn’t, however, expect a price like this. 

The 2016 Le Haut-Médoc de Pédesclaux offers all of it. Charming the senses with a silky mélange of red currant and black raspberry layered with violet, camphor, and spice box, the 2016 delivers a similar terroir-driven brilliance to its high-profile neighbors at a fraction of the cost. 

This is a rare moment in the history of 200-year-old Grand Cru Classé estate Château Pédesclaux, when the price and prestige of every bottle they make have yet to catch up with the quality. But make no mistake, they will. That’s why you should lock in this extraordinary and exclusive Bordeaux while it’s still a bargain. 

We’re witnessing a modern renaissance at Pédesclaux. It began in 2009 when the Lorenzetti family, owners of Château d’Issan and Lilian Ladouys, purchased the Pauillac property and undertook a no-expenses-spared renovation. From the vineyard to the historic château to the winery facility, everything was updated and upgraded, with organic principles underscoring every decision. 

To expand their holdings, the family also bought land on the Milon plateau, on the other side of Mouton and Lafite… but it came with a catch. About five acres of the parcel were just outside the Pauillac appellation, and therefore could not be labeled as Pauillac. But it was unquestionably prime terroir, so the family jumped on it—and now, thanks to that cartographic quirk, those grapes go into this spectacularly over-delivering bottle wearing the Haut-Médoc label. 

Like the best Bordeaux from the outstanding 2016 vintage, today’s Haut-Médoc de Château Pédesclaux conveys fantastic depth from the first swirl to the lingering finish. A patchwork of organically farmed clay and gravel soils located next door to the great First Growths delivers deep-fruited concentration tinged with herb and mineral complexity. The state-of-the-art gravity-fed cellar at Pédesclaux’s Pauillac home base allows for minimal intervention in the winemaking process and maximum expression of this excellent terroir.