Château Larcis Ducasse, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2006

Name: Château Larcis Ducasse, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion
Brand: Château Larcis-Ducasse
Price: 523.07 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2004 2006 2008 2009 2015 2019 2021 2022 2023

justerini & brooks tasting note

The Gratiot family have produced a sizeable wine in 2006, dark and concentrated and with great ageing potential. Particularly sensitive this year to the need for only the gentlest of macerations, to avoid over-extraction, they have created a beautifully balanced wine with a lush palate of pure dark red berry fruit on the nose, fine and fresh tannins accompanied by plentiful crushed blackcurrant and hedgerow berries on the palate. Supple, elegant and rich in character, this wine carries a considerable structure and will therefore require some years to reach its prime. A blend of 78% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 2% cabernet sauvignon and, for us, one of the best value wines this year.

critic reviews

92/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

The 2006 Larcis Ducasse is a blend of 78% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet colored, it offers up scents a baked blackberries, stewed tea, fruitcake, and dried sage with hints of tobacco leaf and tar. The medium-bodied palate has rugged, chewy tannins and muscular black fruits with loads of earthy layers and just enough freshness to lift the finish.

DRINKING WINDOW 2022 - 2032

date of review 09/2022

92/100Neal Martin,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Tasted both at the chateau and then blind at Farr Vintners' tasting, the 2006 Chateau Larcis Ducasse is maturing nicely, far better than the Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse that I tasted side by side. It has plenty of ripe black cherry, strawberry pastille and creme de cassis on the nose, quite opulent for the vintage and well defined. The palate is medium bodied with fine tannin cloaked in ripe blackberry and blueberry fruit; underlying all of this is a seam of cold stone that imparts freshness and satisfying tension on the finish. This is well worth seeking out and is performing at a much higher level than the 2006 Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse. Tasted February 2016.

DRINKING WINDOW 2017 - 2030

date of review 05/2016

91+/100Stephen Tanzer,Vinous

Bright red-ruby. Soil-driven aromas of blueberry, licorice, minerals, dark chocolate and iron. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, with a lovely light touch to the flavors of black fruits, spices, mocha, minerals and flowers. An elegant, aromatic, very sexy wine with terrific energy and lift from calcaire I love the suave texture on display here. Finishes very long and perfumed, with firm but perfectly buffered tannins and lingering notes of red berries and minerals.

date of review 05/2009