Description
“This is decidedly opulent, dark Saint-Émilion with all the elements impeccably balanced. I loved it.”
-Antonio Galloni, Vinous – 96 Points
Direct from the château in St. Emilion, and imported to California on behalf of Mission, we bring you what will most certainly be the best Bordeaux deal we’ve offered in 2025: one the best wines from the impeccible 2016 vintage, at a price that’s $15 less than the standard MSRP in the U.S., despite a weak dollar and 15% tariffs, to boot!
We’ll save the story of how we accomplished this feat for another email; for now, let’s just enjoy it.
Vinous, perhaps the most Bordeaux-focused of the major wine reviewers, loved the 2016 Barde Haut so much that it was reviewed on five separate occasions and raved about each and every time. Writing that the ”2016 is easily one of the best recent versions of Barde-Haut I can remember,” while calling it “fabulously beautiful,” Vinous head honcho Antonio Galloni said flat out: “I loved it!”
We agree. So much so, that we snagged the last 10 cases available at the property during a late summer review of available inventory. You may remember Merlot-specialists Patrice and Hélène Lévêque from our last incredible Bordeaux offering: the 2019 Poesia that sold out not once, but twice here at Mission each time we brought in another drop. The 2016 Barde Haut is considered a masterpiece of the Right Bank style, a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, aged for more than seven years at this point at the château.
96 POINTS: VINOUS – Readers will find a rich, flamboyant wine in the 2016 Barde-Haut. There is not a ton of subtlety here, but I am not sure that matters all that much given how immensely pleasing the 2016 is. Crushed rocks, graphite, lavender, blackberry, plum, and violet infuse a Saint-Émilion that offers tremendous textural richness as well as vibrancy. Most importantly of all, the 2016 is flat-out delicious. This is a decidedly opulent, dark Saint-Émilion with all of the elements impeccably balanced. I loved it.
95 POINTS: JEB DUNNUCK – Lastly, the 2016 Château Barde-Haut might end up being the best wine ever made at this address from the Garcin-Lévêque family, and it certainly ranks with the crème de la crème of the vintage. Dense purple-hued with awesome notes of cassis, black cherries, spring flowers, damp earth, and violets, it hits the palate with incredible purity and precision, a deep, multi-dimensional texture, sweet tannins (from ripe fruit, not sugar), and a building sense of minerality that shows on the finish. It has the depth of fruit and elegance to shine even today yet will benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and evolve for two decades.
94 POINTS: JEB DUNNUCK – This shows such complex and beautiful aromas of flowers, lavender, light spearmint and currants. Medium to full body, very fine tannins and a long finish. All about finesse and length.
93 POINTS: ROBERT PARKER’S WINE ADVOCATE – The 2016 Barde Haut is composed of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple colored, it gives up expressive wild blueberries, kirsch, baked plums and spice box notes with hints of cracked pepper, lavender, garrigue and Provence herbs. Medium to full-bodied and richly fruited in the mouth, the palate bursts with blue fruits, framed by firm, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long.
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