2023 Château Lascombes | MG

The 2023 Lascombes marks a new direction for the Chateau. Dark and virile, with real intensity, the 2023 marries richness and energy. Black cherry, lavender, spice, menthol and licorice emerge from the glass. This fleshes out beautifully on the finish, showing terrific breadth and nuance. The 2023 is, without question, the most elegant, finessed Lascombes made in many years. That won't surprise readers familiar with wines here that were often monolithic and one-dimensional. The 2023 will be a fascinating wine to follow. This is also a new chapter for Estate Director Axel Heinz, formerly at Ornellaia, who strikes me as a liberated winemaker these days—someone freed from the burden of expectations. Tasted three times. 

Blackberries, orange blossoms, black currants and a hint of chocolate on the nose and palate. It's medium- to full-bodied with round and lightly chewy tannins and a long and focused finish with hints of spices and cedar. Chiseled. Needs time to soften. Best after 2028. (12/2025)

The 2023 Château Lascombes is terrific, and this brilliant Margaux is well worth seeking out. Ripe red and black fruits, lead pencil shavings, and tobacco all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a pure, seamless, graceful texture, beautiful tannins, and a great, great finish. It should benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age (although I suspect it will offer plenty of charm in its youth) and evolve gracefully for two decades. (05/2024)

The 2023 Lascombes is deep garnet-purple in color. Scents of freshly crushed blackberries, cassis, and black raspberries leap from the glass, leading to touches of menthol, dark chocolate, licorice, and violets in the background. The medium-bodied palate delivers impressive intensity, with vibrant black and red berry layers and a fine-grained texture lifted by a racy backbone, finishing long and minerally. This represents a real change in style to a classic beauty! The blend is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot. (05/2024)

A wine that begins a new era for this estate, the 2023 Lascombes (which I examined from separate components before tasting the prospective blend) offers up aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with hints of crushed mint, violets and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and velvety, with good depth and purity, it's a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot. This estate, which was formerly one of the Médoc's poster children for over-ripeness and over-extraction, is assuredly coming in from the cold.