The top red bordeaux of 1996

On the basis of the tasting noted below, I feel confident that many 1996s, especially on the left bank which benefited from better weather in autumn than summer, will provide some very good drinking, some of them already starting to be delicious. The best wines have a wonderful suavity and directness – fresh, bracing if initially tannic. (I wonder whether the 2004s will develop similarly.) Please note that I will be reporting on a much wider range of left bank wines, up to 60 of them tasted blind within appellation, I sep 06.

 

All these wines were tasted before...