January 18, 2024 - Wine Bordeauxphilia (at Adina's): Merlot (85%), Cabernet Franc (15%)
Traditional Bordeaux winemaking, with fermentation in stainless steel tanks and aging in French oak barrels for 18 months
Deep, ruby color with complex aromas of black fruits, spices, and tobacco.
Full-bodied and powerful, with velvety tannins and a long, lingering finish.
Can drink now or age further.
October 18, 2023 - First of six bottles purchased in 2016. Provenance perfect; decanted five hours, served at 20C. 14.5%. 100% merlot with this vintage, which is unusual for La Dominique.
The deep, rich, dark almost impenetrable garnet colour on this wine is remarkable. Noteworthy. It just looks luxurious and full. Tremendous luster. Almost like liquid velvet. Impressive.
Nose: very muted.
Taste and mouthfeel: While approachable, its best days--by far--are still ahead. The wine almost has secondary characters at this stage, but not quit. Honestly, I won't touch my other bottles until 2029. Thick, but not inky. Mouth filling and long profile, but no overt oak. Rich, but not mouth coating or raspy.
Great balance for a 2009. There is heavy extraction on this wine but the fruit, acidity, and oak match it. Surprisingly dry finish and lift on this wine, which is not obvious by looks alone. The wine looks like it will be a sweet, ripe, fruit bomb (ala - Chateau Rouget 2010). It isn't. I am betting that by 2029, this wine will be sublime, sophisticated, multi-dimensional. But, it is not there, yet.
Enjoyable, no doubt, but it promises so much more. If you have got a proper cellar and it has been cellared properly since release, seriously, be patient. I really don't think you will be disappointed in six years time.
So, how do I "score" this wine? 90 now, potential is 94.
June 15, 2023 - Decanted for one hour. This is in a perfect spot. Feels mature but still with enough tannin left to suggest it can age further. Smooth and silky.
January 8, 2023 - Drinking well now. No need to wait.
October 19, 2022 - Beautiful bouquet with ripe red berries, sweet spices and some barnyard and stable smells. Same on the palate, full bodied, cigar box, licorice, tobacco and chocolate. Beautiful and soft acidity and tannin. The latter promises a future of several years more, but the wine is in a lovely drinking stage now.
August 19, 2022 - Drinks already nicely, but has a long life ahead and is far away from its peak. Cocoa, Merlot fruit, smooth.
March 13, 2022 - Wonderful! Already mature enough to enjoy. Smooth tannins, silky mouth feel. Perfect balance between fruit and earthy notes. Needs one hour to fully open up. Coffee, cocoa.
February 28, 2022 - Still on the young side of life, but very much delicious at the moment. drank with short decant only in restaurant, slightly too fresh, but it developed so nicely over dinner! Relatively integrated tannins, very silky, but supportive enough for the aromatics of St Emilion, notably cloves, mushrooms, dark berries, a touch of mint and cinnamon. All very nicely coming together with the beef Wellington. So that would be a buy, and hold and drink :-)
December 30, 2021 - Mint, black currant, tar, dark plum. On the palate, full bodied, high tannin. Lacking a little complexity and fruit in the mid-palate. Hard to say and I may well be wrong, but I think this is drinking around peak around now. As tasty as this is, I’m not sure it has the balance to age gracefully from here.
September 25, 2021 - Very little rim. Dark ruby purple colour. Typical bordeaux colour. Lots of fruit and berries, licorice. A little bit of oak taste, plum. Very dry, full bodied. Decanted for about 1/2 an hour. Should develop with another hour of decanting. Tannin is smooth. Very pure, long finish. Lost some of the berry taste after another hour of decanting.