Ten-Year Rule: 2016 Wines Ready to Open This Autumn

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There is an old cellar rule that a great vintage should be left alone for its first decade. Like most rules of thumb, it is too blunt to be followed blindly, but for the 2016 wines it becomes useful this autumn. The 2016s are turning ten, and 2016 was one of those rare years when the classic regions of Europe and California succeeded at once.

The question now is not whether these 2016 wines are good. It is which ones are ready.

Bordeaux: start on the Right Bank

2016 was a near-ideal growing season after a wet spring: a long, dry summer, timely September rain and a cool, clear harvest. The wines combined ripeness with freshness and fine tannin, and the en primeur reviews were ecstatic.

Ten years on, the consensus has held. Club Oenologique’s ten-year retrospective found the wines balanced, with very little over-ripeness or greenness, and drew a clear line between the banks: Merlot-based wines from Pomerol and Saint-Émilion are entering their drinking window, while the Cabernet-dominated Médoc and Graves still need a few more years. Clare Burke of JP Moueix told The Drinks Business in January that the wines were “singing.”

Open now:

• Château La Conseillante, Pomerol: perfumed, silky, the most seductive of the Right Bank. Shop it at Wine.com
• Château Potensac, Médoc: the Delon family’s modest property, and a lesson in how good a lesser label can be in a top year. Shop it at Wine.com

Keep waiting:

• Château Léoville-Barton, Saint-Julien. Shop it at Wine.com
• Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac. Shop it at Wine.com

If you own a case of a Left Bank classed growth, open one bottle this winter to see where it stands and leave the rest until 2030, stored as our winter cellar guide describes.

Barolo: the most patient of the five

In Barolo, 2016 was a long, even season that allowed thin-skinned Nebbiolo to ripen slowly. Critics welcomed it as a classic: perfumed, with rose, tar and red cherry, and with tannins that are firm but finely grained. Wine Enthusiast’s critics gave the wines suggested drinking windows that open around now and run into the 2040s and beyond.

That is the important nuance. Ten years is the beginning, not the peak. A village-level, multi-vineyard Barolo will be open and expressive now; the great single vineyards from traditional producers are still tightly wound.

• G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe: blended from high-altitude sites; ready now, with a long decant. Shop it at Wine.com
• Massolino Barolo: the Serralunga estate’s classic blend, firmer but approachable. Shop it at Wine.com
• Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis: a traditionalist’s single vineyard in Castiglione Falletto; one to try now and then hold. Shop it at Wine.com
• Brovia Barolo Brea Vigna Ca’ Mia: among the top-rated wines of the vintage, and best left until the next decade. Shop it at Wine.com

For a primer on the region’s villages and crus, see our B Is for Barolo on Substack; to taste them where they are made, our 48 hours in the Langhe is the place to start.

Brunello di Montalcino: the sweet spot

2016 was rated five stars in Montalcino, and it is now arguably the most rewarding of these vintages to open. Late-August rain and the cool northerly tramontana wind kept the season fresh, and harvest stretched into October. Writing for Club Oenologique, Susan Hulme MW highlighted “the finesse and quality of the tannins, which have a special seamless quality.”

Normale Brunello from 2016 is now at an ideal point: still bright, with dried cherry, leather and herbs starting to emerge. The Riservas can wait.

• Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino: traditional, large-cask Sangiovese and a dependable benchmark. Shop it at Wine.com
• Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino: lifted, red-fruited and elegant. Shop it at Wine.com
• Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino: a more modern, fuller style that is very open now. Shop it at Wine.com

Rioja: built for this moment

Rioja’s traditional producers age their wines before release, so a 2016 Gran Reserva arrives already partly mature. Moderate, well-timed rain in 2016 tempered the summer heat, and La Rioja Alta describes grapes of “unusual vibrancy and freshness.” Its 2016 Gran Reserva 904 only reached the market recently.

• La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904: Tempranillo with a little Graciano, long in American oak; drinkable now and for another 15 years. Shop it at Wine.com
• CVNE Viña Real Gran Reserva: from the Rioja Alavesa, fuller and darker. Shop it at Wine.com

Napa Valley: the end of the drought run

2016 closed a string of warm, dry Napa vintages from 2012 to 2016, and it is often named the most balanced of them. Wine Spectator, revisiting the vintage at ten years, found many of the wines only just hitting their stride. Producers with a restrained style show best now.

• Corison Cabernet Sauvignon: St. Helena Cabernet of notable restraint. Shop it at Wine.com
• Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon: organic, elegant and precise. Shop it at Wine.com
• Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon: notoriously slow to soften; hold. Shop it at Wine.com

Opening 2016 wines at ten years old

A decade-old red is not yet fragile, but it has begun to throw a deposit and its aromas are more layered than in youth. Stand the bottle upright for a day or two so the sediment settles. Pull the cork gently; at ten years it should still be sound, but have a two-pronged Ah-So puller ready in case it crumbles.

Then taste before you decide. Bordeaux, Napa and Barolo from 2016 will usually benefit from an hour or two in a decanter. A Brunello or Rioja that is already open and fragrant may need only a careful pour off the sediment. Track how the wine changes over the evening and note it. That note is what tells you when to open the rest of the case.