2016: The Greatest Fine Wine Vintage Ever?

I’m often asked by my non-wine trade friends if I have any inside tips in terms of what they should be looking for, any snippets that mean they’ll be getting the absolute best bang for buck. My go-to is “look for the number 2016, as it’s really hard to go wrong. “

2016 was a truly superlative vintage. Perhaps most famously for Bordeaux, often the region that sets the tone on terms of the perception of a year, but for many other regions around the world.

Like Bordeaux, the Southern Rhone, Piedmont, Tuscany, Napa and Rioja all produced magnificent wines across the board. Together, they represent one of the finest vintages of all time for the Northern hemisphere, making it a treasure trove for drinkers and collectors alike.

2016 Bordeaux: Intensity, energy and top-to-bottom greatness

The 2016 En Primeur week in Bordeaux was a phenomenal experience. For the first taste, it was clear that 2016 was something special. With few exceptions, these were wines pulsing with energy, with immense purity of fruit, a gorgeous acidic intensity, and sublime tannins. At the end of the week, palates are usually tired, but in 2016, it was a week that you just didn’t want to end.

Recent ten year on tastings have confirmed 2016 Bordeaux’s greatness. Jane Anson’s report, published only this month, had “the most 95+ scores since I began doing them over 20 years ago” and she wrote, “I am placing 2016 as the best vintage since 2010, right up there with the best of the past 25 years.”

There’s still plenty of availability of 2016s on the market across the price points, and they come very highly recommended, whether for drinking now or laying down.

2016 Southern Rhone: “LE MILLÉSIME”

Following a blockbuster vintage for the Northern Rhone, the South Rhone came out swinging in 2016. Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and the satellite appellations were home to some remarkable wines.

Jeb Dunnuck was effusive in his praise in his comprehensive 2018 report, calling it simply “Le Millesime” and advising his readers, “truly extraordinary for the Southern Rhône and is a vintage that readers should buy with abandon.” For him, “While these are ripe, concentrated, and exuberant wines, they also show an incredible purity of fruit as well as weightless, sensationally balanced profiles on the palate. They are complex, powerful wines that satisfy both the intellectual and the hedonistic parts of the brain.”

He found excellent quality throughout and was particularly impressed with the ‘regular’ cuvees of many producers as they represent superb value when considered alongside more expensive special bottlings.

2016 Piedmont: A new benchmark vintage

As with Bordeaux, a week of tastings of the 2016s in Piedmont confirmed this as a very special vintage. Like Bordeaux, these are wines of purity, intensity and superb tannins, albeit with a very different flavour profile.

What was so impressive here was the homogeneity of quality. Yes, the top wines from the top producers were exceptional and will always appeal to collectors as a result, but entry-level Barolos and Barbarescos were stunning and also outright bargains.

Italian wine expert Antonio Galloni is a massive fan of what was achieved here in 2016, writing that this “a vintage full of truly spectacular, breathtaking wines that captures all the pedigree that Nebbiolo and Barolo are capable of.”

Such an outstanding crop was no accident, but the result of “An ideal growing season with all the prerequisites for a great vintage comes at a time when so many winemakers are in their primes, past the stage of experimentation and settled into their own personal styles.”

It’s a modern vintage for a region that has just about everything the fine wine connoisseur could want: stately, regal and grand bottlings from the big hitters, or sensational value wines from up-and-coming superstars.

2016 Tuscany: A Magical Year

Not to be upstaged by the Piedmont, Tuscany saw a slew of incredible wines in 2016. The world-famous Super-Tuscans were sensational, as were the wines from Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico.

As with Piedmont, Galloni found a lot to love here, calling it “a magical vintage for Tuscany. Across all regions, and from the humblest wine to the most pedigreed, the 2016s are simply magnificent.” He advised his readers that they “will find wines of dimension, stature and tremendous character… So many entry-level 2016s will give readers a taste of what the vintage holds at the upper tiers of both quality and price.”

If you can find well-priced cases of 2016s – particularly from Brunello, as there is terrific value here – they are well-worth snapping up before they inevitably start to dwindle in the marketplace.

Spain: Greatness in Rioja & the Ribera

Spain saw great things in its two key fine wine growing areas: Rioja and the Ribera del Duero.

Rioja had a long, cool growing season that meant wines of structure, finesse and ageing potential. For JancisRobinson.com, “Quality is excellent, with modest alcohol, full ripeness, relatively light tannins, good aromatic range and no bitterness. Certainly the best recent vintage.”

Ribera was very much its equal. A wet spring was followed by a warm summer and cool nights in September. The result was wines with freshness, balance and refined tannins with great ageing potential.

2016 Napa: A beautiful, classic year

There have been some tremendous fine wine vintages in Napa in the last couple of decades, 2016 is up there with the very best.

After a few drought years, ample winter rains were replenished the soils and so winemakers were well placed to take advantage of a warm and even growing season that allowed them to harvest superbly healthy fruit as the perfect time.

The immense quality of the fruit meant incredible wines. For Jeb Dunnuck, “2016 is an incredibly beautiful, classic year for Napa Valley, which produced an enormous amount of high-quality wines. The best 2016s shine for their purity of fruit, ripe, polished tannins, and impeccable balance.”

Connoisseurs of the regions will note that “the wines speak clearly of their origins and have singular characters. This is not a year where it’s difficult to tell To Kalon from Dr. Crane or a Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from a Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon” (Dunnuck). As such, it should form an important part of any Napa collection.

In Conclusion: Is 2016 the best vintage ever?

Obviously it’s impossible to say, but its cleary that there is something special about 2016 and that it’s a real halo vintage.

In short, pick up something from any of these regions with ‘2016’ on the label, and it’s very likely that you’re going to get something very, very good.

As buying tips go, it’s an easy one to remember, just make sure you take advantage while the wines are still in decent supply.