2016 Chateau Galius Grand Cru Saint-Emilion 750 ml

London’s Noble Rot, red wine list winner at the 2019 World Restaurant Awards, has an enviable cellar, as deep as it is selective. When we stepped into the restaurant last summer for a St.-Émilion dinner, we knew there would be fireworks. What we didn’t know was that the jewel of the evening wouldn’t be from the wine list. 

The 97-point Château Galius, which stole our hearts with deep-fruited purity, luxurious polish, and a merciful price tag (it could be 2X the cost), made an appearance courtesy of one of the world’s greatest wine critics, who brought it with him that night. 

Bursting from the glass with intensity and depth, the 2016 vintage from the 100-year-old Château Galius is a primer on power and elegance. Brooding dark fruits threaded delicately with purple flowers unfold to layers of dark chocolate, clove, and savory pancetta. The structure is muscular and chiseled with spellbinding tension through to the finish, where blackberry, black cherry, plus red and black plum stretch long legs, enveloped in velvety tannins. The class on display earned the 2016 a Platinum Award at Decanter's World Wine Awards. 

At our table at Noble Rot, the wine won over every sommelier in attendance. 

That didn’t make it any easier to get an allocation. As it is, Château Galius almost never makes it stateside. Now we had a troop of somms to climb over to get to one of the greatest steals St. Émilion has to offer. At $45 per bottle, the 2016 Galius represents a singular Bordeaux value—rare, refined, and reasonably priced. We managed to lock in a small allocation, and it’s poised to deliver excellence and class right now and over the next two decades—name another $45 wine with potential like that! 

The dense fruit, chiseled structure, and vibrant acidity that will allow the 2016 Galius to outlive many a more expensive bottling is derived from prized parcels of Merlot and Cabernet Franc planted in the iconic clay-limestone soils of St.-Émilion. Averaging 50 years of age, the vines eke out tiny, super-concentrated berries, which are vinified in stainless steel to preserve the purity of the fruit, then aged for 15 months in 50% new French oak, adding polish, plushness, and spice. 

At Noble Rot, when the braised Hereford short rib landed in front of us, a flurry of hands reached for the 2016 Galius. The tug-of-war that ensued ended in laughter with the last drops emptying from the bottle long before several other high-priced wines were finished. We had all found a new favorite. Our friend, the renowned Bordeaux and Burgundy critic who’d brought the bottle, could only wink and say “I told you so.” 

Take it from us, or take it from him. This one is a winner.