Appellations

Dome 2018

St Emilion, Grand Cru

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Tasting Notes

The 2018 Le Dôme is rich, deep and yet also translucent, with striking depth and tons of character. Sweet black cherry, lavender, spice and menthol lend tons of nuance. As always, Cabernet Franc drives Le Dôme, and that comes through loud and clear in the wine's lifted aromatic profile and pulsing energy. The 2018 is a rare Le Dôme that will require only minimal cellaring.

Score: 96 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025 - 2038 Date: 26 August 2021

The 2018 Le Dôme is dense, powerful and packed, with stunning Cabernet Franc inflections that lend energy, nuance and tension. Black cherry, chocolate, leather, spice, espresso and menthol all build in this potent, sumptuous wine full of personality and character. There is so much to like and to look forward to. Le Dôme is often more forbidding in its youth. The 2018 is especially showy.

Score: 93 - 95 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Date: 01 April 2019

The 2018 Le Dôme remains very tight and backward on the nose. Left to open for several hours, it manifests blackberry, briar and iris, then mint and menthol aromas join the chorus line. But it is all very tightly packed at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with a ripe entry, quite plush and dense, touches of graphite infusing the black fruit and then finally opening up toward a more expressive finish. As I mentioned before, this is a Le Dôme that demands bottle age – several years, preferably.

Score: 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023 - 2040 Date: 21 August 2021

The 2018 Le Dôme has a backward bouquet of blackberry, boysenberry and pressed iris scents; with further aeration, orange blossom and light menthol aromas emerge. The palate is full-bodied with plush, rounded tannins. This is, perhaps surprisingly, more approachable than its sibling Vieux Château Mazeret, although with time it begins to close up, so that the finish is rendered "robust" after 10 minutes.

Score: 93 - 95 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2023-2040 Date: 01 November 2019

While I don't think the 2018 Le Dôme hits the same heights as the 2010 or the 2016, it's nevertheless a beautiful wine in every sense. Based off 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot brought up in the usual 80% new barrels, it's a full-bodied, beautifully textured, seamless Cabernet Franc with loads of red currant, blueberry, and mulberry fruit as well as notes of cedary herbs, flowers, camphor, and new saddle leather. Always a singular, distinct wine given its high percentage of Cabernet Franc, it's brilliantly concentrated and has ultra-fine tannins as well as a great finish. Haut Couture at its finest, it's going to benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age, and I suspect, keep for 30 years or more.

Score: 97 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2025 - 2055 Date: 19 July 2021

Notes of red and black currants, graphite, tobacco, and espresso all emerge from the 2018 Le Dôme, which is a blend of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot, aging in 80% new oak, coming from a site to the west of Angélus. Rich and full-bodied, with beautiful building tannins, it fills the mouth with fruit and is an opulent yet flawlessly balanced 2018 that makes the most of this great vintage. Do your best to keep your hands off bottles for at least 4-5 years. This beauty clocks in at 14.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.82.

Score: 95 - 98 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Date: 01 May 2019

Le Dome is from the JCP Maltus portfolio of skillfully crafted Saint-Émilion wines. Neil White is the head winemaker and Thomas Duclos is a consultant here. The 2018 Le Dome is composed of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot, with a 3.82 pH and 14.3% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little coy in the beginning, requiring considerable coaxing to allow fragrant earth, rose hip tea, preserved plums and raspberry pie notions to emerge, giving way to notes of pencil shavings, woodsmoke and camphor. Full-bodied, firm and finely grained, the profound palate is sparked by energetic mineral and red fruit notes, framed by firm, fine-grained tannins and just enough acidity to lift the very long, very fragrant finish.

Score: 97 - 99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Date: 23 April 2019

Big and juicy red here with a full body, dense and intense fruit and a long and flavorful finish. A little old-school, but impressive.

Score: 93 - 94 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Date: 11 April 2019

This is buttoned down and pretty closed right now, with a reductive edge that clears in the glass. There's a ton of freshness here, alongside the slow moving power of the tannins and well knitted fruits. An accomplished, well made wine, although it's a little overbearing with its marzipan and bitter chocolate notes on the finish. This is made in the Pavie style rather than the Ausone style, that's for sure. 80% new oak for malo and maturation. 3.82pH. Drinking Window 2026 - 2042

Score: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Date: 04 April 2019

Toasty, featuring a cocoa note mixed in with the plum, cherry and tobacco flavors. A toasty accent hangs around on the finish. Shows depth and weight, but remains a bit shy on detail. Wait and see what happens.

Score: 90 - 93 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator Date: 02 April 2019