San Antonio 2026 2016 BDX Retrospective

The 2016s arrived with an almost impossible reputation. From the moment the wines were tasted en primeur, the vintage was heralded as something exceptional—a year of extraordinary precision, depth, freshness, and structure. Neal Martin called it a potential benchmark vintage for Bordeaux, and a decade later, we finally have the opportunity to ask the question that matters most: did the wines deliver?

Ten Years Later

The growing season was a study in extremes. A remarkably wet first half of the year gave way to a long, exceptionally dry summer and autumn, allowing the vines to ripen slowly while maintaining the freshness that became one of the defining characteristics of the vintage. The best wines married concentration with restraint—ripe fruit, finely grained tannins, and the kind of underlying acidity that gives great Bordeaux its longevity.

And now, ten years on, the wines are beginning to tell a different story.

This tasting is an opportunity to move beyond the scores and the early vintage hype and examine 2016 as a mature vintage. The wines have had a decade to develop in bottle, and we can begin to see which estates have transformed the raw material of a great year into something truly compelling. The strongest 2016s are showing remarkable detail and poise, with the structure to suggest that their best days may still be ahead.

We’ll taste across the Left and Right Banks, exploring some of the most important Grand Vins of the vintage. Rather than simply celebrating 2016 as “great,” we’ll put that reputation to the test—looking at the wines with a decade of perspective and asking how they have evolved, where they are now, and what the vintage may ultimately mean in the context of Bordeaux’s modern era.

The Wines:

2016 Château Lafon-Rochet Saint-Estèphe Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Les Ormes de Pez Saint-Estèphe

2016 Château Pontet-Canet Pauillac Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Lynch-Bages Pauillac Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Pauillac Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Léoville Poyferré Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Léoville Barton Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Langoa Barton Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Branaire-Ducru Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Rauzan-Ségla Margaux Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Brane-Cantenac Margaux Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry Margaux Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château d’Issan Margaux Grand Cru Classé

2016 Château Canon Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé B

2016 Château Troplong Mondot Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé B

2016 Château Pavie Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé A

2016 Château La Conseillante Pomerol

A must for collectors, sommeliers, and students of Bordeaux alike, this is a chance to experience one of the defining vintages of the modern era at the moment when the wines begin to reveal what they are really capable of becoming.

Food will be provided to fuel the evening.