Château La Dominique 2023

Sweet cherries and flowers in the perfume let you know everything you need to know that is going to be a nice wine. Elegant is the keyword here. The wine is medium-bodied, soft, refined, silky and fresh with a good sense of purity to the sweet red fruits on the palate and in the finish. Just a year or two in the bottle will add a lot to the experience. The wine blends 88% Merlot, with 12% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2028-2045.

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections. Fine oak nuances, black cherry fruit, blackberries, some liquorice, orange zest. Juicy and fruity, elegant texture, vivid with spicy tannins, chocolatey finish, a deep food wine with certain ageing potential.

Seductive red- and blue-berried bouquet, fresh raspberry purée, blackcurrant nectar and beguiling violet perfume. A complex palate with a creamy texture, tightly knit tannic framework, wonderful extract richness, a straight-lined body, dense and precise. In the concentrated, long finish, sour cherry juice, graphite and finely powdery extract. A safe bet from St.-Émilion.

Sleek ruby red, well-judged extraction and use of oak, this is a great-quality La Dominique, continuing a run of enjoyable vintages at this property under the team of Gwendeline Lucas and winemaker Yann Monties. Plenty of estate and appellation signature: sweet damson, black cherry, pomegranate and stone fruits, campfire smoke, clove spice and juicy lift, with a lingering, mouthwatering finish. Julien Viaud consultant. Tasted twice. 49 hl/ha yield. Harvest from September 6 to 28, subdividing plots, including leaving the beginnings and ends of the rows for later picking. Aged in a mix of amphoras, wine globes, concrete eggs, 50% new oak.

Score: 93–95. Dark and serious at first, it then opens to the opulence of small red and black berries and the softness of an armful of old roses, balanced by the finesse of white pepper. The wine gains breadth on the palate, the velvety tannins adding an extra dimension to a sun-kissed, radiant texture, all in finesse. A long, mouthwatering finish.

The interplay of black berry, mint and garrigue notes heralds a fresh, fruity wine. Sleek on the attack, the wine is carried by velvety tannins that provide measured drive. A fresh, harmonious wine to enjoy in its youth. However, the gap between what I tasted en primeur and what I’m tasting in bottle leaves me astonished.

A lovely fresh, fruity nose with a certain creaminess and a subtle spicy edge, with a touch of intensity. It reveals notes of wild blackberry and wild strawberry, and more lightly, creamy blackcurrant, alongside hints of fleshy small blue fruits, a touch of incense and a delicate hint of sweet blond tobacco. The palate is fruity, offering juiciness and indulgence, a tangy acid-driven backbone, and good definition. It shows notes of juicy, fleshy blackberry and crushed plum, and more lightly, fleshy cherry, combined with a hint of blueberry as well as delicate touches of sweet blond tobacco and chocolate. A certain creaminess with freshness and juiciness. A delicate floral touch on the finish.

Beautiful floral aromatics, pot pourri and fresh flowers – smells gorgeous, roses, raspberries and red cherries with some milk chocolate and blueberries too. Nicely alive on the palate, upfront and forward, a juicy undercurrent lifting the structure. Clean and clear with a soft chalkiness to the ripe but cool red and blue fruits. Perhaps not as plump as usual, but there’s real finesse to the tannins, fruit and acidity. Lots of wet stones and graphite touches with a minty menthol element at the end. Excellent definition, there’s no faulting the precision on show. Great work from Gwendeline Lucas and winemaker Yann Monties with consultant Julien Viaud. 60% grand vin production. A yield of 49hl/ha. 3.85pH. Earliest and longest harvest at the estate, starting on September 6 until the 28 for the Merlots and from September 28 to October 3 for the Cabernets. Ageing 50% in new oak.

Earth and singed cedar notes guide a core of lightly mulled plum and black cherry fruit, with tobacco and chestnut accents on the finish, which shows a slightly extracted edge. Should settle in with a touch of cellaring. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2027 through 2035.

Dark colour with good intensity. Moderately aromatic, discreet nose. Precise on the attack, savoury on the mid-palate, with a caressing body and a hint of oak on the finish, the wine ends with a normal length, lightly oaked.