Winemaker Notes
The nose discovers a beautiful solar and concentrated bouquet of blackberry, black cherry liqueur and sweet spice aromas along with delicate floral notes that evoke rose petal and violet scents. With roundness and fleshiness, Chateau Larcis Ducasse 2017 reveals a velvety, sensual and fleshy mouthfeel, which envelops the palate in a succession of different sensations. Fine tannins that coat the palate give structure while the mid-palate centers on fruit concentration. This all unfolds with freshness and vivacity to give a persistent and aromatic finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a wine that is showing lots of structure with tightly wound tannins that spin through the center palate. Full-bodied, intense and beautiful. Pure and real. Drink after 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Larcis Ducasse (a blend of 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc) has a very enticing nose of kirsch, warm blackberries, baked plums and wild blueberries with hints of pencil lead, tar, tilled soil and forest floor. Medium-bodied, the palate is tightly knit with great poise and subtlety, offering bright, energetic fruit and loads of minerally sparks, finishing with great length.
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Jeb Dunnuck
I always love this wine and the 2017 Chateau Larcis Ducasse is no exception. Offering up a complex bouquet of spiced red and black fruits, white truffle, smoked game, and hints of underbrush, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, nicely integrated acidity, and present yet ripe, polished tannins as well as subtle background oak. It's not a blockbuster like the 2015 and 2016 but has a terrific sense of minerality, flawless balance, and a great finish. Give bottles 4-5 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 15-20 years or so. The blend is 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc and was brought up in 60% new barrels.
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Wine Enthusiast
At this stage, this wine is muted, but its future and structure are all in place. As it opens, it will reveal smoky fruits, rich tannins, impressive concentration and a core of black-plum and berry flavors. This will take time, so drink the wine from 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Refined and focused, with a core of gently mulled plum and dark cherry fruit flavors, laced with rooibos tea, incense and red licorice notes. Shows a light bramble hint through the finish. Stylish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2022 through 2035.
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Decanter
This is an excellent wine, tasted both here in London and also in Bordeaux during a vertical of the estate. A mouthwatering salinity is clear through mid palate and on the finish, drawing out the length of the wine, and throughout there is a seductive push and pull between austere minerality and powerfully fleshy black fruits. This is worth taking notice of. Drinking Window 2024 - 2040
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.