Winemaker Notes
Blend: 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a more extracted style of top Bordeaux, but there is plenty of ripe fruit and cool tannins underneath. Chewy and polished texture. Give it two or three years to open.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a very fine wine, bringing together sophisticated tannins and rich black fruits. It has structure, acidity and a juicy core that are well balanced, ripe and with great intensity. This is a serious wine from billionaire Clément Fayat and family and it is well worth aging. Drink from 2022.
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Wine Spectator
Enticing, with loganberry, raspberry and blackberry fruit rushing forth, pushed by a graphite edge and underscored by a mouthwatering anise note on the finish. Shows a lovely tobacco echo at the very end. Best from 2018 through 2028.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
I have often struggled with Château La Dominique. Some years, I will like it and other vintages not so much. The 2014 is quite pleasing with its red fruit purity and zestiness on the palate. The wine is quite rich, yet elegant and persistent. (Tasted: January 27, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
Fragrant dark fruit aromas with integrated oak. Some spice. Juicy, ripe fruit. Tannins finely textured. More elegance this year. Clean, long finish.
Barrel Sample: 90+
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.