CHÂTEAU LAGRANGE
2014 3ème Cru Classé Saint Julien
The 2014 Lagrange has one of the most exotic bouquet from the flight of Saint Julien wines with red cherries, kirsch, blueberry and press flowers, almost Margaux-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, quite saline in the mouth with a hint of black olive, a very crisp bead of acidity. Nice grip here, quite firm and dense. One to watch. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2020 - 2045 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2018)
* 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.
We tasted with the delightful winemaker Matthieu Bordes, but sadly struggled to see the joy here. The estate is developing well and the focus on plot selection has increased, there are now 100 different fermenting tanks, to cope with their 102 identified plots. Allowing micro-management at harvest and during the fermentation of all the varying plots. They enjoyed the long, slow harvest and even allowed their picking teams the weekends off, as they had the rare luxury of time. Matthieu was very pleased with the quality of the must they got after pressing. So it was all in place, but with the samples I saw it was hard to get too excited. There is lots of very mature, thick, rich fruit here in the mid-palate - some good mincemeat character, but then the feel gets a bit stringy, just a bit loose and woolly for now - hopefully things will draw together. Rating: 88 L&S (Apr 2015)
Richly concentrated plum, cassis, and damson, this is powerful, with the highest amount of Cabernet Sauvignon than any vintage since 2000. Firm but fine in its architecture, this combines succulent tannins with a gourmet edge of sweet fruit. The structure is beginning to soften but it needs another few years to fully open, so give it either a good long carafe of three hours or more, or wait. 40% of production in the 1st wine, with 60% new oak. Eric Boissenot consultant. Rating: 93 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (Feb 2022)
Rather marked acidity and tannin and very much fashioned for the long term. All on the finish with its peacock’s tail. Some iodine. Drinking range: 2025 - 2042 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Feb 2018)
The Château Lagrange 2014 has a perfumed nose with blackcurrant pastille. It is well defined with nicely integrated oak, black rather than red fruit with a pleasant touch of graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe black fruit and a keen line of acidity. It does not quite possess the weight and concentration of its peers. It is balanced but it needs to muster more substance during its élevage. A second and third example confirmed my findings, a Lagrange that needs to pull its socks up by the time of bottling. Drinking range: 2018 - 2030 Rating: 87-89 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2015)
Attractive Cabernet-Merlot fruit with the slightly understated elegance that is so true to Lagrange. Lovely fragrance and beautiful depth of fruit. A wine of elegant harmony. (Highly Recommended St-Julien, Decanter Drinking range: 2018 - 2028 Rating: 90+ Steven Spurrier (Apr 2015)
The 2014 Lagrange is gorgeous. Scents of iron, smoke, cedar and licorice open up in a wine that shows the more powerful, virile side of the year. A wine of breath and amplitude, the 2014 Lagrange is wonderfully expressive today. Red plum, cherry jam, smoke and tobacco are some of the notes that build to the voluptuous finish. Rating: 90-93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2015)
Dark crimson. Rather indistinct nose. Though it seems as though there is a lot hidden here. Just a bit austere. Not the full ripeness that some have achieved. Falls away a bit. Hint of iron filings. Pretty severe finish. Drinking range: 2024 - 2034 Rating: 16+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2015)
Floral fragrant spring violets the nose has lots of charm the start of the palate fresh and bright. Richer in the middle with depth of flavour but at the back the freshness gives a lighter feel bright but lacking a bit of richness. Drinking range: 2026 - 2038 Rating: 87-91 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Apr 2015)
Rating: 89 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2015)
A tight and very fine wine with a blueberry and blackcurrant character. Medium to full body, firm tannins. Polished Lagrange style here. Rating: 91-92 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2015)
Château Lagrange
St Julien Troisième Cru Classé 1855.
The fortunes of Château Lagrange were revived with the purchase of the estate by Japanese spirits giant Suntory in 1983. Before that, the 20th century had been a difficult time. Some vineyard had had to be sold off (to Ducru-Beaucaillou and Gloria) and the reputation had slipped considerably.
Marcel Ducasse was employed to run the estate, and the new owners pumped in investment.
Marcel retired after the 2008 vintage and the succession passed to his maitre du chai, Bruno Eynard. Bruno gave way in turn to Matthieu Bordes in 2014. Change has been rapid, with a new building program and the cuverie with an extraordinary 102 stainless vats of differing sizes corresponding to the different parcels by soil type and vine age. Climate change led them to question whether they needed as much Petit Verdot as they have in the vineyard. In recent vintages it has been easy to ripen the Cabernet Sauvignon fully, and since they seek elegance, it would seem right to emphasise the Cabernet and leave out the Petit Verdot which is really there to boost the power, but interestingly Bordes regards its omission from the blend on 2009 as a mistake.
Château Lagrange is one of the larger Médoc estates, much of the vineyard lying a little further inland than many of its Saint Julien rivals. There are still 115ha under vine, 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot for the red wine. Wines spend 217-21 months in wood (50%-60% new).
The second wine, produced since 1985, is Les Fiefs de Lagrange, and this accounts for a large proportion of the production, as nowadays only the best parts of the vineyard are ever considered for the Grand Vin. A small amount of white wine, Les Arums de Lagrange, is produced too, named after the arum lilies around the lake in front of the château
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.