2022 Larcis Ducasse
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Tasting Notes
This is the 21st vintage from Nicolas Thienpont and David Suire (of Ch. Laroque), and it’s a superb wine this year. The nose is bright – filled with juicy red fruit, leading on to a bright, super concentrated, tightly packed palate, with a polished framework of tannins. There’s a plushness to the core of fruit, but it’s also beautifully fresh. Blend: 86% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc
Critic Scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
The dark, purple hue stands out. Licorice, smoke, oyster shell, espresso, black cherries, and plums are all over the perfume. The wine explodes from the glass with its layers of opulent, black and red fruits, dark chocolate, espresso, smoke and chocolate on the palate. Full-bodied, powerful, and most importantly pure, there is a depth of flavor, and richness on the mid-palate that sticks with you through to the extended, mineral-driven finish. I would not be surprised to see this score even higher once it is in the bottle. The wine blends 86% Merlot with 14% Cabernet Franc, 14.6% ABV, 3.5 pH. The harvest took place September 13-September 23. Yields were 34 hectoliters per hectare.
Tasted on multiple occasions and one of the legendary wines in the making from this vintage, the 2022 Château Larcis Ducasse clocks in as 86% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc that's still resting in 55% new French oak. A hypothetical blend of the 2005 and 2018, it's a deep, powerful, opulent Saint-Emilion offering an incredible array of black cherries, blackberries, smoked tobacco, chocolate, and graphite-driven aromas and flavors. With a rich, full-bodied, expansive mouthfeel, it has ultra-fine tannins, beautiful symmetry in its tannins, acidity, and fruit, no hard edges, and a killer finish. I was lucky enough to taste this on four separate occasions and I thought it had the potential to be a perfect wine every time.
86% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Lifted, red-berry aromas with a touch of spice. Generous fruit fills the mid palate with plentiful tannins behind. No lack of matière. Big, chewy tannic base. Slight glow of alcohol on the finish. Promising but needs to come together.
