Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesBarrel Sample: 90-92
An elegant, textured wine, this has blackberry flavors, attractive smokiness and a juicy backdrop. The wine is likely to age well over the medium term. Barrel Sample: 90-92
Black berry fruit, gravel, bark, tobacco leaves and iodine here. It’s medium-bodied, savory and pleasantly austere, with fine tannins. Rusty elements.
Barrel Sample: 91
Deep purple-black colored, the 2020 la Garde rolls out of the glass with bright, expressive notes of Morello cherries, redcurrant jelly and plum preserves, plus hints of dark chocolate, dried herbs and pencil shavings. The medium-bodied palate delivers mouth-filling, crunchy black fruits with a lively backbone and approachable, grainy tannins, finishing on an earthy note. Barrel Sample: 88-90
Shows tobacco, sanguine and savory notes that weave in and out of the core of red currant and black cherry fruit. Reveals a light tarry streak that adds some grip to the finish. Nicely done. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.
The origins of the Chateau date back to the 18th century, when Domaine de “Lagarde” already featured on the “carte de Cassini”, the first general map of France drawn by the Cassini family in 1756. The picturesque Charterhouse, built in 1732, was at that time surrounded by valleys and woods. The “Bourdieu de Lagarde” was then passed down through the Blanchard family, until its purchase in 1877 by the Lacoste family, who were negociants in Bordeaux. Vines were thus cultivated on this magnificent stony terroir and the winery was built in 1881. After the First World War, Louis Eschenauer, a well-known negociant on the Place de Bordeaux at the “Chartrons”, was looking for good quality vines in the Bordeaux area. He became interested in the vineyards around the summit of Domaine de La Garde, which he subsequently bought in 1920, and in so doing became the leading proponent of the wines produced in the Martillac area, where he also owned Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte. Sometimes referred to as Domaine de La Garde, Clos de La Garde, then Chateau La Garde, even at this time a crest featured on the estate’s wine labels inspired by weapons thought to be from the region of Aquitaine during the 100 years’ war, displaying the leopard with a lion’s head.