Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesComplex aromas of white pepper, black pepper, crushed berries and nutmeg. Medium to full body, ultra-fine tannins and a creamy, refined finish. A core of fascinating fruit and spice here. A blend of 50% merlot, 43% cabernet sauvignon and 7% petit verdot. Drink after 2021.
The opulence of this wine balances the serious layers of tannins to give a wine with rich potential. Its spice and firm tannins will allow it to age. Best after 2023.
Barrel Sample: 91-93
Barrel Sample: 88-91
Another terrific wine from this estate, the 2017 Chateau Lilian Ladouys comes from gravelly soils in Saint-Estephe and is 50% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Petit Verdot aged in 40% new oak. It’s also worth pointing out that this cuvee sees malolactic fermentation in barrel as well as plenty of time on lees, which I think normally gives the wine plenty of early appeal. Beautiful notes of cassis, tobacco, leafy herbs, and damp earth all flow to a medium-bodied 2017 that shows the more elegant, straight style of the vintage. It has some firm tannins, so give bottles a handful of years.
Barrel Sample
The medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Lilian Ladouys has a fragrant herbal waft on the nose with a core of baked red and black currants, Morello cherries, tilled earth and cedar chest. The palate is medium-bodied, delicately played and pleasantly chewy with plenty of freshness and lovely purity on the finish. The wine was aged for 15 months in French oak, 40% new. The blend is 50% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Petit Verdot. Eighty percent of the production went into this grand vin.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.
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.