2020 Château Lilian Ladouys, St Estèphe, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Drink from 2024 to 2038
Neal Martin, Vinous (May 2021)
Drink from 2025 to 2035
Antonio Galloni, Vinous (June 2021)
James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (April 2021)
About this WINE
Chateau Lilian Ladouys
Château Lilian Ladouys is Bordeaux Cru Bourgeois wine property located in Saint-Estèphe with 40ha vineyards on gravel rich soils and well-drained slopes overlooking the Gironde. Plantings are 58% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc.
The wine style is robust, with loads of black currant fruit, cherries and dusty, loamy soil notes as well as hints of tobacco leaf, spice box and cedar, that should agenicely for 10+ years
Saint-Estèphe
Saint-Estèphe is the northernmost of the most important communes of the Médoc and borders Pauillac on its southernmost border, with only a gully and stream separates it from Ch. Lafite. To the north lies the Bas-Médoc.
Saint-Estèphe is defined by the depth of its gravel, which is ubiquitous but of varying depths and occasionally very shallow, when clay predominates. This keeps the soil cooler and wetter than its counterparts so that the wines can appear fresh in lighter vintages, but superbly successful in hot, dry years.
The best châteaux in the south of the commune have the deepest soil and the thickest gravel. Cos d'Estournel has an exceptional terroir with its vineyards being located on a south-facing ridge of gravel with excellent drainage.
Saint-Estèphe is the least gravelly of main Médoc communes and in the north of the commune the vineyards are heavier and more clay-based leading to a rustic style of wine being produced.
The wines can appear austere in youth with a discernable ferric note at some châteaux, but the best typically display good depth of colour, pronounced acidity an tannins in youth and are exceptionally long-lived. At their best, they are the equal of almost any Bordeaux. The well-regarded St Estèphe co-operative controls the production of about half the appellation.
Recommended Châteaux
Cos (Ch. Cos d'Estournel), Ch. Montrose, Ch. Calon-Ségur, Ch. Lafon-Rochet, Ch. Les Ormes de Pez, Ch. Beau-Site, Ch. Cos Labory, Ch. Phélan-Ségur
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
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Description
Merlot 59%, Cabernet Sauvignon 37%, Petit Verdot 3%, Cabernet Franc 1%
We have not been able to taste this wine. Jacky and Françoise Lorenzetti are also owners of Ch. Pédesclaux and half-owners of d’Issan. Emmanuel Cruse is in charge here. As with Pédesclaux, there has been a great deal of well-directed investment. Consequently, there has been a continual uplift in quality and, importantly, finesse. The estate describes 2020 as “a pretty bouquet of fresh blackberries, with notes of Burlat cherries. The palate is full in the mouth, dense and intense with velvety tannins…with notes of liquorice, orange peel and cocoa
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