Chateau La Dominique 2022

DECANTER: "Clean and fresh on the nose with cool blue fruit notes. Succulent and supple, lovely energy and life, with high acidity that has a sweetness and juiciness that is so enjoyable backed up with liquorice and dark chocolate edges and a salty undercurrent. Feels well worked, still quite tight and tense, there's power here but it's being funnelled directly from start to finish with real purity and precision. Well worked, finessed and presented carefully. Sappy and vibrant, a joy to taste and a great success. Has a serious side no doubt, this will age well but will also be so great to drink young and fresh. Tasted three times. 3.7pH. 60% grand vin production. Yield of 38hl/ha. Ageing 14 months, 50% new French oak barrels, 40% one wine barrels, 10% in composite eggs, amphora and wine globe. Gwen Lucas director, Yann Monties technical director and Julien Viaud consultant. Tasted three times."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Lovely fruit here with black berry, redcurrants and tile aromas and flavors. Medium- to full-bodied, very well integrated tannins and a lightly chewy finish, showing the potential of the vintage."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Dunkle Waldbeeren, frische Pflaumen und Kirschen, Orangenzesten sind unterlegt, feiner Edelholztouch. Saftig, gute Komplexität, süße Kirschen, feiner Säurebogen, elegant und anhaftend, zeigt Länge und sicheres Potenzial."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Flowers, black cherries, black raspberries, wet earth, forest herbs, and a touch of crushed stone opens the aromatics. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, silky, fresh, and more importantly, the fruits express purity. The wine has lift, vivacity, spices and dark chocolate that accents the fruits. Not the most concentrated wine of the vintage, instead you find elegance, length and precision. The wine blends 88% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. 15% ABV, 3.7 pH. The wine is aged in 50% new, French oak, and 10% amphora. Drink from 2026-2045."

WEINWISSER: "Delikates blaubeeriges Bouquet, zartes Veilchenparfüm, heller Tabak, Graphit und Holunderdrops. Am eleganten trainierten Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, balancierter Rasse und engmaschigem Tanningerüst. Im gebündelten aromatischen Finale Wildkirsche, Estragon und feinmehliges Extrakt. 2029 – 2048."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Tasted on multiple occasions, the 2022 Château La Dominique is another brilliant wine from this château, which is located on the northern edge of Saint-Emilion, bordering Pomerol. A blend of 88% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, it sports a vivid ruby/purple hue as well as a great nose of red and black fruits, spring flowers, loamy earth, and baking spices. Ripe, medium to full-bodied, silky, and wonderfully balanced, this seamless, elegant 2022 will round into form with just 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for 20-25 years."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "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."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Dense, fresh and spicy. Tannins rounded and refined. Lovely texture with freshness as well. Clean and poised with length on the finish. Well-judged extraction. One of the best from this estate for a while."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "A rich, heady wine, the 2022 La Dominique offers up aromas of sweet cherries, baked berries and plum liqueur mingled with notions of licorice and melted asphalt. Medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy, with a rich core of sweet, somewhat jammy fruit but reasonably lively underlying acids, it's framed by plenty of powdery tannin. I had entertained higher hopes for La Dominique this year, but perhaps the pace of ripening was just too rapid for the estate's technical team."

VINUM: "Noten von schokoladigem Holz und frischen Beeren; wohlproportioniert im Mund, erstaunlich geschmeidig und elegant, höchstens etwas zu dominantes Holz in dieser frühen Phase, ansonsten erfreulich und stilvoll."