#7 in Top 100 of 2019. The aromas here are so spellbinding with shitake mushrooms, wet earth and moss, as well as tree bark and, finally, dark fruit. The palate is incredible as it builds and grows with full body, but always tight and reserved. It shows so much depth and complexity. Please try not to touch this until 2025.
From one of my favorite estates in Bordeaux, the deeply colored 2016 Château Larcis Ducasse is comprised of 87% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc that was brought up in 50% new French oak. It offers a huge bouquet of black, black fruits, smoked herbs, forest floor, graphite, and underbrush that builds beautifully with time in the glass. Deep, rich, opulent and expansive on the palate, with building tannins, it’s a rich, layered Saint-Emilion as well as another incredible wine from this estate. Give it a few years if you can. It’s capable of keeping for three decades or more.
TWI
97pts
The Wine Independent
The 2016 Larcis Ducasse is a blend of 87% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Franc. An opaque garnet-black in color, it requires a fair amount of swirling before erupting with a profound perfume of blueberry preserves, ripe black plums, juicy blackberries, and dark chocolate, leading to nuances of licorice, espresso, fertile loam, and Indian spices, plus a hint of black truffles. The densely laden, full-bodied palate is still very tightly wound at this stage, giving peeks at the layers of minerals, exotic spices, and fragrant earth notes intertwined with the generous black fruits, backed by firm, rounded tannins and amazing tension, finishing with epic length. While the richness and quality of the tannins make this an irresistibly delicious drink now, try to keep your hands off it for another decade and then drink it over the next 30 years+.
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Larcis Ducasse sashays gracefully out of the glass with beautiful Black Forest cake, red cherry compote, raspberry preserves and blackberry pie scents plus hints of cigar box, Ceylon tea, dried lavender and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers gorgeous red and black fruit preserves flavors with a wonderfully plush texture and very long, perfumed finish.
Features a lovely profile, with caressing edges but a very focused feel, as cassis, plum reduction and blueberry preserve flavors stream through together, flanked by dark tea and singed apple wood notes. A bolt of chalk emerges steadily through the finish, keeping this well-grounded. This will need some time to unwind fully. Best from 2023 through 2038.
As you would expect from a young wine in such a brilliant year, this is still closed yet powerful, rich and layered, displaying again the two faces of concentration and freshness that Larcis captures so well. It has precision tannins that, even at three years old, are layered and supple and the emphasis is on densely knitted cassis fruits with a slate minerality and menthol uplift. 60% new oak was used. Drinking Window 2025 - 2044.
This perfumed wine is rich in black fruits bursting with juicy berry flavors and acidity. A dry core promises both good aging potential and great fruitiness. The silky structure is developing well and the wine should be ready to drink from 2024.
The 2016 Larcis-Ducasse has a very well-defined bouquet of blackberry, briar and light violet aromas that seem to convey more energy than Pavie-Macquin. The medium-bodied palate delivers rounded, juicy tannins that frame the concentrated tarry black fruit. But maybe like Pavie-Macquin, this is just missing a little tension and detail on the finish that will be restored with bottle age. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.