2022 Lascombes La Côte

Auslieferung bis zum Frühjahr 2026!
Delivery until Spring 2026!

La Côte Lascombes 2022 (Margaux; 100% Merlot sourced from the 4.5 hectares and 4 contiguous parcels that together comprise the vineyard of La Côte; a final yield of 36 hl/ha; 14.5% alcohol; tasted from magnum in Paris with Axel Heinz; around 20,000 bottles were produced). The infusion vinification is very important here. A staggeringly elegant and refined wine with extraordinary levity and freshness, even in such a hot and dry vintage. This is plush, svelte, gracious and silkily-textured – and rather more ample in the mouth than Lascombes itself. The fruit is dark – sloes and damsons, brambles and mulberries – and there’s a scratch of black pepper and twist of graphite from the sharpener’s blade. The quality and character of the tannins is remarkable and a real statement of both the direction of travel at Lascombes and, of course, the sheer quality and singularity of the terroir from which this is sourced. You would not necessarily pick this as Margaux not least because of the evident ‘calcaire’ touch of the tannins. That said, there is certainly a trace of that subtle bulby florality of the grand vin if much less of its rose petal quality. Texturally this feels more like a Saint-Émilion plateau Merlot in a way, an impression only accentuated by tasting this from magnum – a format in which the tannins seem to form more of an integrated mesh – here of the finest woven silk. Subtly understated, sapid and chalky on the finish, it will be fascinating to see this evolve.
96/100 Colin Hay; The Drinks Business

First vintage of a wine that has been creating a slow drumbeat of interest, as news spreads that Axel Heinz, king of Merlot in his last role with Masseto, has created a new Lascombes bottling focusing on the same grape. My feeling is that plenty of people will be surprised by the results, particularly in the uber-ripe 2022 vintage. This is not the powerful fist of fruit that would have been easy to deliver. It kicks off with richly layered and ripe raspberry, damson and red cherry, but they take the foot of the pedal at just the right moment, and allow the limestone-driven minerality and pumice stone juice to come flooding in. The plot for these grapes, called La Côte, has been part of Lascombes for over 40 years, but is not in the original 1855 footprint that is now being focused on for the 1st wine. 50% new oak for ageing. Lawrence Wine Estates owner.
95/100 Jane Anson