France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Chateau La Dominique

Chateau La Dominique Grand Cru Classe Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Bordeaux

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

A wine with shape, form and balance, concentrated black fruits with chiselled precision. This is a great quality wine with promise and pleasure, full of black chocolate, liquorice bud, cigar box and baked earth. Slightly drying tannins on the finish, but there is a fresh mint kick that keeps things mouthwatering. 46hl/h yield, 3.65ph, harvest September 26 to October 18. Second year with Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, 60% new oak. Jean-Philippe Fort consultant.

Inside Bordeaux

Medium pluss tannin. Røde bær, lær, eik. 

Sommelier

Amatør

Medium intensity ruby, good quality, carefully measured cedar and sandalwood smoke on the nose, not overpowering but adding depth through the mid-palate, which is not always the case in 2024. Acidity kicks up a little high on the finish, but there is real charm here, and chewy tannins on the finish that suggest this can soften further over ageing. Gwendeline Lucas director. Tasted twice. 3.56 pH. 50% new oak. Harvest 18 to 30 September. 31hl/ha

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. 49hl/h yield. Harvest September 6 to 28, subdividing plots, including leaving the beginning and the ends of the rows for later harvesting. Aged in a mix of amphoras, wine globes, concrete eggs, 50% new oak.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2022 La Dominique needs a swirl or two to unlock notes of juicy blueberries, blackberry pie, and kirsch, giving way to underlying wafts of pencil shavings and tar. The full-bodied palate is plush and juicy, with bags of expressive black and blue fruits, finishing with a red berry lift. The blend this year is 88% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Precise and perky, blueberry and raspberry fruits, well balanced and topped with grilled peppercorn spice and liqourice root. Tasted twice, this is a sculpted and enjoyable 2021. 38hl/h yield, 50% new oak, 10% amphoras and wine globes. Yann Monties technical director.

Skogsbær, sorte kirsebær, sorte plommer, mokka, mørkbrent kaffe.

Smak av skogsbær, sorte plommer, mokka og integrert fatpreg. Pen lengde, noe alkoholstikk. 

Expert

One of the few 2018s that is clearly better than the 2016, something that highlights the step up in quality that is happening at La Dominique at this point. Supple blackcurrant and raspberry fruits, careful extraction that keeps the tannic hold caressing rather than drying, and nuanced smoked earth and cocoa bean dusting. 3.6ph, 50hl/h yield. Foral edge, black cherry, beatifully lilting acidities. Julien Viaud consultant (also Laboratoire Rolland), Gwendeline Lucas director.

This is extremely juicy, has a delicate and buoyant feel to the tannins that makes it a standout in the vertical, clear texture to the raspberry fruits, touch of raspberry leaf, and a saline kick on the finish. First vintage for Gwendeline Lucas as director where she was making all the decisions, and it is a good one. 40% new oak, 10% amphora and in vegetal polymer eggs. Just 16hl/h yield, and yet delivers a juicy feel overall.

Rich and round through the mid palate, silky texture, this has power and handles it well. Chocolate and liqourice, blueberry fruit, enjoyable overall, trace of heat on the finish. 45hl/h yield, 60% new oak. This is the first vintage with Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, with grapes that had been planted in 2008, right opposite L'Evangile on a plot of gravel over clay soils.

Deep plum colour, plenty of enticing fruit on the nose, this is really the point at which you start to see quality taking a step up in this vertical. Dark chocolate shavings, a touch of burnt oak, with plump and textured blackberry and raspberry fruit, a sense of freshness, and the overall quailty and precision. 36hl/h yield, 3.67ph, 60% new oak. Harvest September 26 to October 14.

Touch of caramel on the nose, gently smoked, well handled and carefully expressed. This is soft through the mid palate, but they have not tried to overly push what was a difficult vintage, and the overall feel here is of unfussy fruit, gentle blackberries and raspberries, fading to tobacco leaf and campfire smoke. No need to wait. 31hl/h yield, 50% new oak, 3.6ph.

Enjoyable aromatics on the nose, a lovely moment to open and drink this wine, full of generosity and plump fruit. Baked earth, liqourice, rosemary, cut dried herbs that are fairly strong, as is the turmeric spice and fig fruit, really this has a pretty exotic feel overall and is full of life. 36hl/h yield, 3.67ph, 50% new oak. Harvest October 8 to 15, so extremely late.

An excellent moment to begin drinking this wine, well-integrated with fine melted tannins, raspberry puree and plum fruits, a touch of crème de mure, and a restrained elegant feel overall, sappy and fresh lick of acidity on the finish. 50% new oak. Michel Rolland consultant, Yannick Evenou director.

The structure of 2010 allows the highly extracted fruit and oak a frame to build out around, and this has impact and character, but it struggles to really deliver a mouthwatering freshness. 50% new oak for ageing. Michel Rolland consultant, 37hl/h yield.

These were the years where I struggled with the over-concentration in La Dominique, and tasting it at 15 years old underlines the progress that has been made at this property by the recent team. Exuberant in style, with grilled blueberries, fig and raspberries, sandalwood and incense. 50% new oak for ageing. Yannick Evenou director, arriving in 2009 and staying until 2015. 48hl/h yield.

Fairly clear, medium garnet with a brown tint.
Clean and fresh. Medium intense with tertiary aroma characteristics. Smells of black currants, plums, blueberries, strawberries, liquorice, eucalyptus and oak spices. Developed nose. Tertiary taste characteristics. Tastes of mature blackcurrants, figs, herbs, cedar three, tobacco and leather. 

This wine is dry with a medium acidity. Polished, medium tannins. Medium alcohol. Medium body. Medium flavour intensity. Very nice balance. Good complexity, lacks a bit of concentration. Lacks some smoothness in the finish. Long finish.  

Ready to drink, will hold for another 5-7 years. 

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.	14844601
Producer	Chateau La Dominique
Vintages	2016
Country	France, Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Bottle	75 cl

Alcohol	14.5 %
Acid	4,6 %
Sugar	< 3 g/l

Packaging	Glass
Cork type	Naturkork
Selection	Bestillingsutvalget
Wholesaler	Magma Wines AS
Carrier	Skanlog AS