Chateau la Tour de Mons, Margaux, 2016

A perennial struggle for the wine merchant is trying to get his/her customers into lesser known wines.

But there's an ever present demand for these types of wines because they really are that good. Take a moment to look at those ratings.

While that Vivino score places this in the top 3-4% of world wines, it doesn't even make the top 20% of Margaux. That says nothing about this wine, and everything about the appellation. What a name, what a place.

The basis for the first-class and wonderfully powerful cuvée are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot grapes. The vines here dig their roots deep into soils of clay and gravel.

Elegantly dry It was bottled with exceptionally little residual sugar. This is a real quality wine, which clearly stands out from simpler wines. In the aftertaste, mineral notes of the soils dominated by gravel and clay are added.

Oh yeah - and 2016 was a total legend of a vinage. Tour de Mons, Tour de force.