Wine review of 2016 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Rouge red wine, Cabernet/Merlot blend from France.
Mouton cadet is meant to be a consistent product, made of equally good quality year on year despite the vintage wine growing conditions varying significantly in the Bordeaux wine region of France, where the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean plays a major role in providing the just-ripe-enough conditions to grow fin merlot and cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
A couple for years ago, I reviewed the 2014 vintage of Mouton cadet, and wrote about How Good Mouton Cadet really is?
With a newer vintage, I wanted to taste this popular (supermarket) wine again and confirm or not whether I had just got lucky the first time around with a good bottle, or whether Mouton cadet is a decent affordable Bordeaux wine indeed, representative of its region with a reasonably good quality for the more-than-reasonable tag price.
For the full tasting notes and wine review intricate details, watch the wine review video below where I provide my live remarks and comments about the wine as I tasted it in front of the camera.
Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Red Wine Review in Video
My Tasting & Review Notes for 2016 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux
Score: 87/100 points
This 2016 vintage of Mouton Cadet has a large majority of Merlot grapes (83% proportion), an easier grape variety to ripe in Bordeaux, yet blended with 7% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The maker doesn’t reveal the maturation and precise winemaking process. Although by all likelihood given the price it is aged for just a few months in stainless steel tanks before bottling rather than aged in oak barrels, perhaps with use of some oak alternatives. Who knows?
Overall Tasting Impression & Review Notes
This 2016 vintage of Mouton Cadet comes in a surprisingly dark and vibrant red color, filled with blue and purple hues giving it an appealing youthful appearance, much like the dark purple hues of the grapes themselves really.
The nose though, is a little introvert and not very talkative at first. I have found that with a little bit of time, and perhaps some aeration, the raspberry and fresh blackberry characters shine through a little more in the aromatic profile. But really, you’ll have taste the wine to find out what it’s made of…
Give Mouton cadet a sip, and you will find some grippy tannins welcoming and honestly surprising your taste buds a little with a catchy edgy feel.
Luckily, this rough introduction is quickly backed by an oily-enough body, and some finer-texture phenolics, giving the tasting experience, once your taste buds have adapted an overall smooth-enough feel.
The more pleasing surprise comes in the form of precise and vibrant fruity characters dominating the flavor profile.
Fresh raspberry and crisp blueberry. Sure, it’s more acidic than opulently ripe, but it’s lively and refreshing like sipping a refreshing mixed red berry juice of some sort.
Add some hints of delicate vanilla and chocolate, touches of red capsicum with a violet floral character and a peppermint spiciness, and you end up with a wine that shines thanks to the precision of its fruity character, but also somewhat makes things interesting elsewhere… on the slightly vegetal green pepper side though admittedly.
In fine, a thirst quenching and rather vibrant wine, whose salivating grippy and salty finish somes as an invitation to be paired with generous meat dishes, barbecues and other opulent rich stews or cheeses.
Sure, it is a rather simple straight-forward wine, but it’s honest and in fact satisfying for those who don’t expect anything much beyond what they’ve paid for.
For the price, this is a pleasing, fruity, refreshing and spicy Bordeaux wine, most-probably as good as you’ll get in the style at this price point, and in all fairness, satisfying if paired with the right food and a not-snobby crowd…
While I tasted Mouton cadet red a couple of years ago, and found it decent at the time for the price. i found this 2016 version is more convincing, with a brighter and purer fruity expression.
is this the effect of a favorable vintage? Or the result of a broader use of thermo-vinification all around the Bordeaux region? Would love to hear your thoughts…
Enjoy 🙂
2014 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Wine Review
Read the review and full tasting notes of the former 2014 vintage Mouton Cadet through the link to the full review article below:
Please let me know your thoughts