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2016 Fronsac
Château Haut-Lariveau

Tasting the Hubau family’s 2016 Fronsac, you get the feeling that Bénédicte and Grégoire harvested their grapes not simply on the right day for ripeness but at the right minute. There is nothing overdone in this chiseled, elegant cuvée made from organically grown and pampered Merlot. The balance is just right. Evoking blackberries, black currant, and a hint of cocoa, this would be the perfect wine to open the next time you cook steak.
—Tom Wolf
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2016 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Merlot |
Appellation: | Fronsac |
Country: | France |
Region: | Bordeaux |
Producer: | Château Haut-Lariveau |
Winemaker: | Bénédicte & Grégoire Hubau |
Vineyard: | 60 years avg., 7.92 ha |
Soil: | Clay, Limestone and Clay, Gravel |
Aging: | 12- to 18-month élevage in barriques, 25% new |
Farming: | Organic (practicing) |
Alcohol: | 13.5% |
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About The Producer
Château Haut-Lariveau
About The Region
Bordeaux
Often considered the wine capital of the world, Bordeaux and its wines have captured the minds, hearts, and wallets of wine drinkers for centuries. For many, the wines provide an inalienable benchmark against which all other wines are measured.
Bordeaux is divided into three winegrowing regions with the city that gives the region its name in the near geographical center. The “right bank,” or the area located east of the Dordogne River, produces wines that are predominantly Merlot with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The “left bank” is located to the west of the Garonne River and produces wines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.
The third region, Entre-Deux-Mers, lies between both rivers and produces white wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle. Though technically in the left bank, it is worth noting the appellation of Sauternes, which produces arguably the world’s most famous sweet wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle as well.
Though many top Bordeaux wines are sold en primeur (in advance of their bottling) and often through a middleman known as a negoçiant, Kermit has always preferred to purchase directly from the winemaker. For more than three decades he has sought out small producers, who make classic Bordeaux wines and are willing to play outside the negoçiant system. This ethic has led to longstanding relationships, excellent prices, and perhaps most important—wines of great value and longevity.
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Kermit once said...

Kermit once said...
For the wines that I buy I insist that the winemaker leave them whole, intact. I go into the cellars now and select specific barrels or cuvées, and I request that they be bottled without stripping them with filters or other devices. This means that many of our wines will arrive with a smudge of sediment and will throw a more important deposit as time goes by, It also means the wine will taste better.