Excellent Cru Bourgeois Medoc Bordeaux, Château Patache d’Aux 2016: Neal Martin, awarding 91/100 points calls it ‘joyful’ ‘classy’, ‘excellent’: best price for this exceptional, classy, classic claret: case of 12 bottles delivered

91/100 Neal Martin
92/100 Andreas Larrson

Here’s an award-winning Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux from the Medoc, and it’s delicious—an exceptional wine for the price, Château Patache d’Aux consistently produces one of Bordeaux’s best value clarets—particularly so through the Club—and after a blind tasting the Club Tasting Panel have no hesitation in recommending this the 2016 to Members.

Powerful and concentrated, the wines of Patache d’Aux are renowned for a remarkable ability for ageing. This 2016 vintage has been drinking beautifully for some time, and will cellar until 2035. It is a blend of power and delicacy, revealing rare aromatic freshness. It’s a classic, savoury Bordeaux.

Notes the influential critic Neal Martin, ‘The 2016 Patache d’Aux has a lovely, joyful bouquet with raspberry and wild strawberry, tinged with mint and light cedar scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, well balanced with much more poise than many of its Cru Bourgeois peers. This is a classy offering from Patache d’Aux. Excellent.’ 91/100 points. Neal Martin

Steven Spurrier writes of this 2016 vintage, ‘Fine cassis-driven Cabernet fruit. A ripe middle palate, good flavours and integrated tannins—classic and classy.’

Château Patache d’Aux is in the Northern Médoc, 10 kilometres from the Gironde estuary, with a host of fine wines to its south: from Latour to Lynch-Bages and Haut Brion. It has a significant pedigree in its own right. The original owners, from 1632, were the Chevaliers d’Aux, descendants of the Comtes d’Armagnac. Later, during the French Revolution, the estate was seized by the state and used as a staging post for coaches—hence the name and the horse-drawn carriage on the label.

Classified Cru Bourgeois in 1932, the Château has belonged since 1964 to the Lapalu family. Today it is owned by the great Bordeaux winemaker Antoine Moueix, whose expertise is legendary. Significant investment has created new cellars, a new viticulture and a new team led by technical director Lucie Lauilhé and supported by consultant winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt—and the result is a superb wine.

The vintage is a blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. It pairs perfectly with meats, roasted, grilled, braised or in sauce. This powerful vintage offers great cellaring potential and delicious current drinkability.

Case of 12 bottles. RRP £300. CCUK £227 with free UK mainland delivery.