Chateau Larcis Ducasse, Saint Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe 2014

" Produced from a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, this wine has a distinctive, mineral profile with licorice and fresh blackberries rounding out the exquisite perfume. On the palate the wine is round, supple, long and fresh, flaunting a unique, outstanding blackberry and plum character.

93-94 Pts - The Wine Cellar Insider

Chateau Larcis Ducasse had its birth during the days of the ancient Romans who valued the best hillside vineyards in the area. Helene Gratiot Alphandery, inherited the property in 1941. She managed Chateau Larcis Ducasse until 1990. Her son, Jacques-Olivier Gratiot took control of the property after she passed away and he remains in charge today.

Prior to 2003, it had been years since the wines of Chateau Larcis Ducasse were prized by Bordeaux wine lovers. The wine had fallen out of favor, due to a lack of attention and effort. That changed in 2002 shortly after they hired the team of well-known Saint Emilion consultants, Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt to turn things around and manage the estate.

One of the first improvements at the property suggested by Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt was to create a new drainage system. The next step was to change harvesting practices.

Before 2002, the grapes were often picked early and over a short duration of 2 to 3 days. Now, the harvest takes place when the fruit is ripe and picking takes as long as 2 to 3 weeks to complete. Starting with the 2005 vintage, all work in the vineyards moved to 100% organic farming methods.

The 11.3-hectare vineyard of Larcis Ducasse is planted to 83% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc. The vineyard is located just around the bend in the road from Chateau Pavie. In fact, their vines abut each other. To the south, you find Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere and La Gaffeliere, and as you move north, Chateau Troplong Mondot, Chateau Pavie Macquin is not far away.

The terroir of Chateau Larcis Ducasse is a mixture of soils. The vines on the top of the plateau and the slopes have a south-facing exposure. At the higher elevations on the plateau, which hits 86 meters at their peak, here the terroir is limestone, clay, and chalk soils.

As you travel further down the slopes towards the terraces, the terroir is a blend of chalky limestone, marl, sand, silt, and clay soil. At the base of the slopes, you find sand and clay soils. On average the vines are 35 years of age.

The yields are kept low at Larcis Ducasse. As an example, in 2009, the effective yields were only 25 hectoliters per hectare.

To produce the wine of Chateau Larcis Ducasse, the grapes are whole berry fermented. The fruit is transported by gravity flow into traditional, cement tanks for fermentation. Cuvaison takes between 25-28 days. There are no pump-overs. Pigeages are conducted during fermentation. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels.

The wine is then aged in 67% new, French oak barrels, which are mixed in size, between standard barrels and 500 liter French, oak casks. The wine is then aged for an average of 18 to 20 months in barrel before bottling. A small portion of the wine is aged in amphora. The production is on average close to 4,000 cases of wine per vintage."