Winemaker Notes
The 2020 Lassègue expresses the complexity and power of the estate's clay and limestone soils with great elegance. This wine showcases a beautiful deep and shiny color. From the first aeration, the aromas express great freshness and a concentration with spicy notes. Then they evolve towards expressions of menthol, licorice, rose petals and violet. On the palate, this vintage expresses a nice concentration and abundance of red fruits, a beautiful tension in the mid-palate and a persistent finish carried by the minerality of its terroir. Endowed with great precision and remarkable balance, this wine joins the great vintages of Lassègue with panache.
Blend: 60% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Wide, powdery, fine but firm tannins; a lovely density to this. Concentrated and intense, very straight and streamlined. Finessed and focused. Clearly powerful, the energy is apparent, but all the elements are kept quite tight and controlled, so you're not getting so much expansion or nuance necessarily. Still, well worked with clarity to the fruit and tannins. Wet stone, liquorice, toasted caramel all giving elements of wood but integrated and supportive. Feels like a sleeping giant, will be good in time, sleek and stylish.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep purple-black colored, the 2020 Lassegue needs a little swirling to begin, to unlock bright, cheery scents of fresh blackberries, black raspberries and redcurrants, plus hints of black cherry preserves, charcoal, woodsmoke and underbrush with a waft of tapenade. The medium to full-bodied palate has a firm structure of ripe, rounded tannins and just enough freshness to support the generous black fruits, finishing long and earthy.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
James Suckling
A very tannic and powerful red this year, with blueberry, walnut and stone character. Tar undertones. Full and chewy. Flavorful finish. A bit extracted, so needs time to soften. Try after 2028.
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.