WINE 1996 | 1996 FRENCH WINE GUIDE

Year, Vintage 1996

Is 1996 a vintage close to your heart? Is it a year of birth, a year of marriage or some other symbol that makes you want to offer or drink a wine from that year? Let us decipher this vintage for you, to help you buy the bottle that best suits your needs.

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The 1996 vintage in BORDEAUX

Years come and go, but they don't resemble each other, and that's the charm of wine. 1996 is a very fine vintage, quite similar in terms of grape ripeness but so different in terms of evolution. If 1995 was the vintage of Merlot, this time it's the year of Cabernet Sauvignon. A superb grape variety, so important in the Bordeaux blend that it is not always appreciated for its true worth. It is the structure and backbone of great wines. However, it wasn't a foregone conclusion that this would be a great vintage... The months of May and June went off without a hitch, offering perfect weather for the development of the flowering. The first hurdle came in the summer, when even though there were periods of fine weather, the irregularity of the season did not help the grapes, which were unable to emerge from this period as ripe as in 1995. It was not until the first two weeks of September that the grapes began to develop spectacularly, reaching impressive levels of ripeness. If we go back to the Cabernet-Sauvignon for a moment, Paul Pontallier will quote it as "brilliance, purity, power and a smooth finish. They've got it all! Enough to make you want to try a few skittles. In any case, although Cabernet-Sauvignon had the lion's share of success in this vintage, Merlot and other grape varieties also did very well, offering powerful, concentrated wines. The 1996 vintage is also an important one for the Saint-Emilion vineyards, as it was the year in which the classification of Grand Cru wines was revised. As you can see, even if the year was promising for the whole vineyard and produced great wines everywhere, one bank fared better than the others, thanks to the large majority of Cabernet-Sauvignon in its blends: the left bank of the Garonne. The wines of Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac and Saint-Julien are all magnificent. Lucky for you, we still have many wines from this magnificent vintage.

In Saint-Estèphe, for example, the Château Cos d'Estournel pulls out all the stops with a wine of character. Very opulent, hyper-powerful, with spices on the finish.

Pauillac is undoubtedly one of the most successful areas. Le Château Lafite-Rothschild will even score a near-perfect 98/100 Parker's rating. If you'd like to discover the appellation with this 1996 vintage, we recommend the Château Grand Puy-LacosteThis wine offers the full range of Pauillac wines, with earthy, very mineral notes. A very straightforward structure with tannins that keep up without being too present. A very interesting wine.

The Saint-Julien wines are pretty good too... And yes, it's hard to choose...

The Château Ducru-Beaucaillou offers all the opulence of Cabernet Sauvignon with delicacy and finesse. The mellow tannins are right at home, and can now be accompanied by mature meat.

In Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, some wines stand out from the crowd, but you'll really have to go for the best to get juice of the same quality as on the Left Bank. Château Cheval Blanc will be able to match its finesse and suppleness, as will Petrus, which is once again outstanding in the 1996 vintage.

 

The 1996 vintage in BOURGOGNE

The 1996 vintage follows in the footsteps of 1995. In the same spirit of production, decision and quality. Even if it gave the winegrowers a few sweats, everyone can be pleased to have produced a relatively abundant, healthy and, above all, high-quality vintage.

Things are off to a good start in Burgundy, with a pleasant month of May and, above all, a sunny June, which will enable the flowering to get off to a good start and develop well, even a little ahead of its usual cycle. Once flowering has done its work, we still need some nice sunshine and little rain to help the grapes form and develop. That's when the little drops on the forehead appeared... July wasn't the month we'd hoped for, as a little rain slowed the development of the grapes. After a little precipitation, fine weather set in and enabled the grapes to swell well, develop good acidity and a thick, rich skin. August and especially September had a lot to do with this, with two dry, warm months, ideal for the development of this fruit ball. In addition to this superb quality, the grapes are quite full-bodied and well rounded, a sign of abundant production. In the end, this description of the vintage applies to all Burgundy regions and to both colors, even if the white wines are a little more complex than the reds.

As mentioned above, there is no disparity between sub-regions. The reds from the Côtes de Nuits are as good as those from their neighboring Côtes de Beaune. Ditto for whites from Chablisien and the rest of Burgundy.

On the Côtes de Nuits, the 1996 Gevrey-Chambertin will be powerful, with firm, rich tannins and lovely spicy notes on the palate. On Chambolle-Musigne, the charm of Pinot Noir makes its effect felt with a velvety, round wine. But for this fine 1996 vintage, the wines of Vosnes-Romanée are a must. A real success story for this vintage. It's easy to quote the greatest estates to be sure you're not mistaken, but a Richebourg from Domaine Anne-Françoise Gros or a Romanée-Conti will give you the shivers...

A little further south, in the Côtes de Beaune region, the pretty reds are to be found in Pommard and Volnay, although the Aloxe-Corton wines have nothing to envy them. In Volnay, we still have a few bottles from Domaine Michel & Marc Rossignol, which offer a Volnay 1er Cru Les Pitures magnificent. Opulent, highly aromatic with mellow tannins. Even today, it can be enjoyed with Bresse poultry and mushrooms, for example.

As far as white wines are concerned, Chablis wines offered some superb Chardonnays. We're thinking of Domaine Dauvissat with its straightforward, mineral and complex whites. For the little discovery, just as sublime but a little less well known, Domaine Alice et Olivier de Moor produced whites of great intensity. A little further south, in flagship appellations such as Meursault, the great estates expressed themselves. Lalou Bize Leroy, for example, with Domaine D'Auvenay on Meursault Les Narvaux, or Domaine Coche-Dury with Meursault Les Rougeots. We could list many more success stories from this excellent vintage...

In any case, if you come across a bottle of 1996, don't hesitate to taste it. The vintage is really good and the wines are pure. 

 

• Vintage 1996 in VALLEE DU RHÔNE

Once again, the Rhône Valley is showing its two faces, with some difficult climatic conditions for many winegrowers. Flowering got off to a good start in both the north and south, with the grapes developing well. Then came the rain, as is often the case in this region, which hit the Vallée du Rhône Méridionale a little harder and diluted some of the wines. To the north, on the other hand, the Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage and Saint-Joseph appellations offer superb Syrahs, as well as very complex, well-balanced whites for those who produce them. As you can see, you'll have to concentrate on northern wines to find quality juices, because even if some southern winemakers have made the judicious choice to carry out very strict sorting, unfortunately this won't be enough to produce quality juices without being a little diluted.

But let's get back to the beautiful appellations... Because yes, in the North the 1996 vintage is a very fine vintage, both in terms of quality and quantity. In Côte-Rôtie, Maison Guigal is the perfect example of how to produce powerful, complex, long-keeping wines. The wine has spent 3 years in barrel, giving it the backbone to stand the test of time and evolve over time. On Hermitage, the red wines are fantastic, but the whites are particularly noteworthy, offering depth and a very aromatic white without being "too much". 

As for southern wines, Gigondas and Lirac managed to avoid the drops for a while, but are no longer drinkable.

 

• Vintage 1996 in the rest of France

In the rest of France, the 1996 vintage was a happy one. There was little waste, and many successes. The vintage in Champagne will once again resemble that of Burgundy, even if the Pinot-Noir in the south of Champagne is extremely complex. In the Loire, everyone is happy. The whites are pure, the reds offer very ripe Cabernet, but here too, a little extra note for Chenin, which, on the great estates, will be monstrous.

 

The best French wines of the 1996 vintage

 

According to tasters' opinions, particularly those of the Robert Parker & The Wine Advocate team, the best wines of 1996 are Château Margaux 1996 and M. CHAPOUTIER's Ermitage l'Ermite!

> Our 1996 wines in stock