CHÂTEAU LABÉGORCE
2014 Cru Bourgeois Supérieur Margaux
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. This is an attractive effort. Good deep, quite rich fruit - a suedy feel of nicely succulent tannin and just a whiff of wood-spice. Quite pretty but for the shortish term. Rating: 90 L&S (Mar 2015)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2014 Labégorce has satisfying fruit concentration on the nose, showing black plum and is slightly herbal in style, but it keeps drawing you in. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, orange rind and marmalade-tinged black fruit, with modest depth and just a little austerity on the finish. This feels like it has evolved quicker than expected since its impressive showing six years ago. Tasted non-blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting. Drinking range: 2024 - 2029 Rating: 89 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2024)
Still feels extremely young at nine years old, with black pepper and turmeric spice, bitter almond, smoked earth and blackberry fruits. Excellent quality, with heart and personality. 50% new oak. Harvest September 19 to October 17, technical director Marjolaine de Coninck. Served out of magnum. Drinking range: 2023 - 2036 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, Decanter (Mar 2023)
The 2014 Labégorce has a crisp well defined bouquet with blackberry and raspberry fruit, cedar and pressed flowers, and hints of pressed rose petals. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, fine acidity, harmonious with a mixture of red and black fruit towards the tender finish. I love the texture here. This is a sublime Margaux from a rejuvenated estate. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2021 - 2040 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2018)
Dark crimson. Round, sweet and forward. Rather a strumpet but offering lots of cocoa pleasure. Long. Drinking range: 2023 - 2034 Rating: 16+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Feb 2018)
The 2014 Labégorce is one those "dark horses" of the vintage, a wine that has a prosperous future. It has a lovely, very pure and sensual bouquet with lifted redcurrant and wild strawberry scents that really evoke the essence of Margaux. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, well -udged acidity, good concentration with a satisfying raspberry preserve-infused finish that demonstrates superb persistence. I adored this Labégorce from barrel and now in bottle it does nothing to disprove my initial enthusiasm. Top Margaux ahoy! Drinking range: 2019 - 2035 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2017)
Super-ripe red cherry, plum, mocha, licorice and sweet French oak are some of the signatures of the 2014 Labégorce. A flamboyant, exuberant wine, the 2014 possesses good depth and balance. The oak is overpowering, which is a shame, as there is notable purity to the fruit. The blend is 58 % Merlot, 40 % Cabernet Sauvignon and 2 % Petit Verdot. Drinking range: 2017 - 2026 Rating: 90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2017)
Château Labégorce
Nathalie Perrodo brought her father's dream to reality with the 2010, the 'first' vintage from the newly reunited Labégorce vineyards, after they had spent a couple of centuries split into three. The Labégorce vineyard seems to have been named after an Abbé Gorsse, but the truth is somewhat shrouded in mystery. Feret, in his edition of 1865, mentions the existence of the noble La Bégorce house in Margaux from 1332. The estate was split into three after the revolution. The part that was named Labégorce Zédé in 1840 was reintegrated for the first time since then in 2010. Hubert Perrodo bought Labégorce in 1989, and the buildings of l'Abbé Gorsse de Gorsse in 2002 (the vineyard of this one escaped him, bought by Château Margaux). But his dream of re-uniting the historic Labégorce estate after he bought Labégorce Zédé in 2005 was cut short by his death in a ski-ing accident at Courchevel in 2006. After a couple of years of reflection, his twenty-five year-old daughter Nathalie has taken up the challenge of continuing his work, directing this really quite large domaine which also includes the fifteen hectares of the Cru Classé Château Marquis d'Alesme.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.