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Beau-Séjour Bécot 2016

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > St Emilion
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyMerlot

This 20 hectare vineyard is well situated in the heart of Saint Emilion and is planted with 80% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Label

Tasting Notes

The 2016 Beauséjour Bécot has a sensual bouquet of pure red cherries and crushed strawberry laced with cedar and light graphite scents. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin and well-judged acidity. The finish is harmonious and somehow just effortless. This actually reminds me of its neighbor, Château Canon. Could the 2016 represent the best Beauséjour Bécot ever made? Quite possibly. Drink 2022-2050.

95
Neal Martin, vinous.com (Jan 2019), January 2019

Extremely aromatic and lifted on the nose with wild fruit and flowers, as well as chalk and mushroom undertones. Full body and ultra-fine tannins with beautiful grace and balance. Shows structure yet refinement at the same time. Needs four to five years to come completely together, but already so beautiful. Drink after 2023.

95
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (223), February 2019

Showing spectacularly well on the two occasions I was able to taste it, the 2016 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 16 months in 90% new oak, and hitting a healthy 14.5% natural alcohol. This straight-up classy, seamless, ultra-fine Saint Emilion offers a beautiful bouquet of red currants, white truffles, spice, and flowers. With brilliant limestone character, fabulous intensity on both the nose and palate, ultra-fine tannins, and a magical texture, it’s approachable today yet has another 20+ years of prime drinking. 2019 - 2039.

95
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, February 2019

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Beau-Sejour Becot (80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon) is just a little closed to begin, opening out to reveal beautiful chocolate-covered cherries, preserved plums and black raspberries scents with touches of stewed tea, tobacco, red roses and cinnamon stick. Full-bodied and jam-packed with perfumed fruit layers, it has a rock-solid frame of ripe, finely grained tannins and layer upon layer of provocative black fruit and savory layers on the finish. 2020 - 2037

95
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (Interim No), November 2018

Right on the limestone plateau, this has a lovely delivery of extremely ripe black fruits dotted through with minerality and little pulses of electricity. Extremely successful, this will age well thanks to elongated tannins that are chalky in all the right places. Again, we have this slight austerity on the finish, a reminder than 2016 is not the right bank party we saw in 2015, but this is excellent with such a beautiful balance.

Drinking Window 2027 - 2050

94
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, April 2017

Deep crimson. Smooth and ripe. No rough edges. Until a sort of dry Marmite finish (love it or hate it). Cool, light end. Rather a lack of fruit intensity on the mid palate.
Drink 2023-2035

16
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2017

This 20 hectare vineyard is well situated in the heart of Saint Emilion and is planted with 80% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Juicy and plump in fruit with a very creamy, rounded palate. Red cherries and plum compote bring the sweetness which smoky tobacco notes provide the savoury edge. Supple and smooth with no hard edges.

91+
Farr Vintners, April 2017

The nose is firm and fresh the start of the palate has a mix of red fruits and bramble. Sweeter and richer in the middle the fruit is ripe then fresh black fruits give a lighter feel firm on the finish. 2025-35

85/88
Derek Smedley MW, DerekSmedleyMW.co.uk, April 2017

One of the later picked wines in St Emilion in 2016 (on October 15th), this is a correspondingly ripe, even heady, wine with rich bramble and blackberry fruit, hints of tangerine and ground spices and the chalkiness of the best wines from the plateau. 2024-31

94
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, April 2017
Read more tasting notes...

The 2016 Beau-Sejour-Becot is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon cropped at 40 hectoliters per hectare, picked between 3-20 October. It has a very pure and precise bouquet, pure with joyful black cherries, blackcurrants, cedar and incense that is beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very well balanced, sensual and lively with a gentle, caressing finish of cedar and tobacco. There is good structure here, a Saint Emilion that should age with style. This continues the upswing of Beau-Sejour-Becot.
Drink Date 2022 - 2045

93/95
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (230), April 2017

This is really beautiful in 2016 showing blackberry, blueberry and walnut character. Full-bodied, tight and focussed with fantastic length. Serious. Best ever modern vintage?

93/94
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2017
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.