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Tasting Notes
Jonathan Maltus’s flagship wine is impressive in 2023. The nose is full of delicious blackcurrant and cherry fruit, giving way to an open palate which reveals plums and a touch of liquorice. This finish is long-lasting, with plenty of tannin lingering, but so well-balanced that it already feels open and ready to go. 14.1% alcohol. Blend: 80% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Neal Martin, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2023 Le Dôme is the usual 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot raised in 80% new oak, with the balance in once-used barrels. It brings a more Cabernet-dominated nose of red, blue, and black fruits supported by leafy tobacco, spring flowers, iron, and subtle chocolate. It's rich, medium to full-bodied, has beautiful overall balance, and incredible length on the finish. It's another gorgeous wine in the lineup from Malthus that has tons of character.
Flowers, espresso, sandalwood, smoke, black plums, and black cherries create the perfume. The palate offers a rich layer of salty black cherries, plums, licorice, and chocolate. Equally lush, and racy, this is going to be even better with a few years of aging. The wine blends 80% Cabernet Franc with 20% Merlot, 14.1% ABV. The harvest took place September 20 - October 2.
A blend of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot, Le Dome 2023 has a pH of 3.81. This vintage has the fruit from Les Asteries vineyard incorporated into it. It has a deep garnet-purple color and needs a lot of swirling and shaking to wake up scents of stewed plums, redcurrant preserves, and kirsch, leading to hints of dusty soil, iron ore, pencil shavings, and lilacs. The medium-bodied palate delivers super-fine-grained tannins, beautifully integrated freshness, and a very long, fantastically minerally finish.
About the producer
The man behind highly regarded Saint-Émilion wine Le Dôme is a Nigerian-born Brit who sold his engineering firm in 1992 to move to Cahors and restore a pile of ruins. After meeting a local vineyard owner at a dinner party, he ended up selling his production to Oddbins and was caught by the wine bug.