Ch. Lagrange
3rd Growth Grand Cru Classe
Saint Julien
2016

The producer

Château Lagrange was once considered a lackluster and underperforming estate in St. Julien, not living up to its 3ème Cru Classé designation. However, this changed in 1983 when the Japanese Suntory Group purchased the property and embarked on comprehensive renovations of the vineyards and winery. Lagrange has since emerged as a benchmark estate. Today, it boasts extensive barrique cellars and a cutting-edge cuvier with 56 temperature-controlled stainless steel vats, making it one of the most advanced properties in Bordeaux.

This is very good Bordeaux at an agreeable price.

The wine

The 2016 Lagrange punches above its weight, offering a rich, layered palate featuring blackberry, blueberry, violets, and blackcurrant. The balance is superb, highlighted by a bright acidity and supple tannins that provide an appetizing crunch. Spicy and mineral notes add depth, leading to a refreshing finish. This wine is precise and refined.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.