Chevalier de Lascombes, Margaux 2020 - OWC of 12 Bottles x 75cl

"Medium-bodied, forward, round, lush, polished, fruity, sweet and almost ready to with its ripe, dark red berry, espresso, licorice and coffee-centric profile."

86-88 The Wine Cellar Insider

Chateau Lascombes takes its name from one of its earliest owners who possessed the estate in the 17th century, Antoine, Chevalier de Lascombes. Born in 1625, Lascombes inherited the estate from the Durfort de Duras family. The Durfort de Duras family was well established in Margaux as they had their own eponymous estate, Chateau Durfort, which later became Durfort Vivens.

The estate was known as Domaine de Lascombes until 1860. Through numerous sales and inheritance issues, Lascombes passed through a myriad of owners, until 2001, Lascombes was purchased for $67 million by the American-based Colony Capital group. The new owners invested heavily in modernizing the Left Bank estate of Chateau Lascombes, which had been considered an underperformer in relation to its classification as Second Growth.

The company reportedly spent an additional $47 million on renovations to the entire estate that included major replanting of the vineyards as well as the construction of a completely new winemaking facility that included a four-level, gravity-fed vat room and new barrel aging cellars.

Chateau Lascombes was resold in 2022 to Gaylon Lawrence, the owner of Heitz Cellars, as well as other vineyards in Napa Valley through his holding company, Lawrence Family Wine Estates. One of the first moves made by the new owner was to bring in Axel Heinz, the long-time director of Ornellaia and Masseto to manage Lascombes.

Chateau Lascombes is the largest vineyard in the Margaux appellation with 120-hectare planted to 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. 

The vines are scattered around the appellation with parcels in Cantenac, Margaux, and Soussans. Their best vines are well placed on gravel hillside terroir that reaches up to 20 meters in elevation at its peak.

On average, the vines are 35 years of age. The vine density of the vineyard varies from 8,000 to 10,000 vines per hectare. The terroir is gravel, clay, sand, and limestone soils which are laid over sandstone and clay with iron deposits.

To produce the wine Chateau Lascombes, vinification takes place in a combination of wood and stainless steel vats. Over the past few years, the amount of new oak used to age the wine has been fortunately reduced. The wine is aged in an average of 80% new French oak barrels for 18 months. There is a second wine, Chevalier de Lascombes.