2006 Lascombes
By Chateau Lascombes
2006 Lascombes from Chateau Lascombes, Margaux, Bordeaux
When one speaks of the great vintages of Margaux, the 2006 Lascombes from Chateau Lascombes commands a reverential nod. The year was notable for its climatic challenges, but it's precisely this strife that sculpted the character of this ample bodied wine.
A Portrait of Persistence
The growing season of 2006 in Bordeaux presented vineyards with hurdles: a blisteringly hot summer followed by an uneven September. Yet, against odds, Chateau Lascombes conjured a vintage both luscious and robust. Where less meticulous cultivators stumbled, they tapped into the tenacity of their Terroir and delivered a most intriguing spectacle in a bottle.
Complexity in A Clime-Conjured Cuvee
The subtleties manifest in the 2006 Lascombes offer fascinated whispers of dark fruits, vying with undertones of cedar and violet—a palette adorned by artful crafting and ageing in new French oak barrels. This particular assemblage of Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot brings forth an interplay reminiscent of the classical form yet individualised through the hardships overcome by its birth year.
The texture is one that speaks of maturity; tannins well-rounded, like pebbles in a brook, set in a bed of impeccable structure ensuring it remains one of the more memorable projects brought to us by the deft hands at Chateau Lascombes. With time's gentle passage, this wine continues to unfurl its layers, promising a journey for those who invest both cellar space and patience.
Forecasting Fine Futures
To sip the 2006 Lascombes from Chateau Lascombes is to understand resilience transmuted into elegance. Its investment merit is marked not merely by its present poise but also by its potential for graceful evolution. Distinguished collectors are wise to note its peculiarities as born of a tempest-tossed vintage which has very much become one of strength rather than strife. A judicious addition to any prestigious portfolio, it cleaves closely to the ever-shifting tapestry that is Bordeaux's opulent offering.
Current market price
£750.00
12x75cl
Highest score
90
POP score
75
Scores and tasting notes
One of the more modern-styled wines from the appellation of Margaux, always with a prominent overlay of toasty new oak, espresso roast, and sweet black fruits, this wine seems more restrained and has backed off its concentration with the 2006. It is a mid-weight, elegant wine with notes of licorice and black currants as well as a hint of tobacco leaf. The wine is concentrated and obviously outstanding, but the moderate tannins in the finish suggest cellaring it for 2-3 years and drinking it over the following 15-20.
Robert Parker Jr - Wine Advocate #181
Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London. The 2006 Château Lascombes has an open and generous bouquet: red berry fruit, cured Italian meat, quite savoury compared to its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe red cherry and blueberry fruit, quite sweet in the mouth with a gentle, quite sensual finish. It is not a complex Margaux, although there is an appealing plushness to the texture and it has upheld better freshness on the finish than I initially thought. That said, a bottle subsequently tasted blind was below par and was besmirched with a tinny veneer. Tasted April 2016.
Neal Martin - The Wine Advocate, 29 May 2016
Tasted blind at Southwold '06 Bordeaux tasting. Although this is quite oaky and modern on the nose, there is certainly sufficient fruit to back this up. Good definition, nice clarity here. The palate has a ripe entry, very tannic and lacking focus towards the finish, with just a touch of greenness poking out towards the finish. Forceful and assertive, without the intellect to back it up. Tasted January 2010.
Neal Martin - Wine Journal Jul 2010