The 2018 Château Larcis Ducasse checks in as 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc that comes from a gorgeous hillside terroir on the Côte Pavie, located between Château Pavie and Château Bellefont-Belcier. Aged 18 months in 60% new barrels, it offers a truly sensational bouquet of ripe blackcurrants, espresso roast, scorched earth, bloody meat, chocolate, iron, and bouquet garni. A massive, super-rich Saint-Emilion with a dense, concentrated, layered mouthfeel, it has building yet sweet tannins and incredible purity of fruit. Reminding me of the 2005 shortly after release, this heavenly juice offers astonishing richness and depth while staying flawlessly balanced and elegant. Sadly, there are less than 3,000 cases produced, but this monumental, legendary wine won't hit maturity for a good 8-10 years and will have 40-50 years of longevity if well stored. Hats off to Nicolas Thienpont and consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt for producing one of the wines of the vintage as well as one of the greatest young Bordeaux I've ever tasted.

With a good depth of color the wine serves up its blend of roasted cherries, licorice, smoke, flowers, plum liqueur, espresso, kirsch and black raspberries with zero effort. The wine is dense, full-bodied and concentrated. Yet with all its weight and richness, everything is in balance. Texturally, all the fruit is drenched in velvet, rocks and stones. The seamless finish sticks with you for at least 50 seconds. The wine blends 89% Merlot with 11% Cabernet Franc. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2018&wine=Chateau%20Larcis%20Ducasse

Polished aromas of lavender, plum, dried blueberry, clove, sandalwood and dark chocolate. Hints of praline. It’s full-bodied with firm, tightly knit tannins. Supple, seamless layers with great length and precision. Still reserved and tight. A toned and textured red with great structure. Try from 2026.

I would count this as the vintage where the wider world sat up and took notice of what has been happening at Larcis Ducasse. It's poised, controlled, knitted down in its blackcurrant and bilberry fruits, but you feel the energy that flows through it, along with espresso, liquorice, black tea, and tons of fresh acidities that root it in the clay-limestone slopes. Owned by Famille Gratiot-Attmane, but with the Nicolas Thienpont team overseeing winemaking. I loved it En Primeur and it has only got better since.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Larcis Ducasse needs a fair bit of swirling to unlock notes of crushed blackberries, plum preserves and boysenberries with suggestions of black truffles, tapenade and crushed rocks coming through, building to a subtle underlying perfume of roses and cloves. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers mouth-coating black fruits and loads of savory sparks, framed by firm, slightly chewy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and earthy. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

The 2018 Larcis Ducasse has a deep garnet purple color. It gives up notions of stewed blackberries, boysenberry preserves, and redcurrant jelly, with hints of pencil lead, cloves, and camphor. The palate is full-bodied, firm, and fine-grained with tight-knit fruit and a minerally finish.

Powerful but with a sense of restraint, this is extremely well handled in 2018. The difference between this and a more massive St-Emilion is subtle for sure - it's unquestionably on the dark fruit register - but you notice it in the way that the tannins respond and bounce rather than stiffen up in the mouth. You can enjoy them as they close in around you rather than beg for air. The palate has lots of dark chocolate, liquorice and slate notes, with cassis and blackberry fruits. This is from south-facing slopes, so there's plenty of ripeness in the grapes, but the limestone helps to temper it, along with the natural water sources that are found at this spot. Owned by Famille Gratiot-Attmane, but with the Nicolas Thienpont team overseeing winemaking. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/france/bordeaux/chateau-larcis-ducasse-st-emilion-1er-grand-cru-classe-b-29450#SUmPd0iDi74QAkAC.99

Warm cherry, raspberry and plum preserve flavors form the core here, with nicely polished structure supporting it through the finish where anise, black tea, singed alder and savory details steadily emerge. A touch austere in feel, but the breed and length is there. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2023 through 2035. – JM