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CHÂTEAU LILIAN LADOUYS

2019 Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel Saint Estèphe

IN STOCK
Grapes Merlot, Cab Sauv, Cab Franc
Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
District Right Bank
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Saint Estèphe
Classification Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel
ABV 13%

The 2019 Lilian Ladouys offers ripe red berry fruit laced with pencil shavings and tobacco on the nose, but it feels just a little one-dimensional. The palate is better with ripe tannins, plenty of crisp black fruit, chalky in texture towards its sapid, quite uncompromising finish. For Claret die-hard fans. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Drinking range: 2025 - 2038 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.

The 2019 Lilian Ladouys is absolutely beautiful, just as it was from barrel. The interplay of rich, radiant fruit and the savory, earthy notes that are typical of Saint-Estèphe make for a compelling, delicious and highly affordable wine to drink now and over the next handful of years. Drinking range: 2023 - 2034 Rating: 92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2022)

The 2019 Lilian Ladouys has gained a little more refinement since I tasted it in barrel, the black fruit now dominant and interlaced with tobacco and pencil box scents, less Margaux-like than previously. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, slightly powdery tannins. Classic in style, with that touch of brine on the finish. I admire the way it lingers in the mouth. Afford this 3–5 years in bottle. Drinking range: 2025 - 2048 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2022)

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 Lilian Ladouys comes bounding out of the glass with expressive scents of crushed blackberries, cassis and boysenberries with touches of dried Provence herbs, charcoal, clove oil and espresso. The medium-bodied palate is charged with energy, offering firm grainy tannins and electric freshness to support the tightly wound black fruits, finishing with loads of invigorating herbal and mineral sparks. A property to watch—in 2018, the Lorenzetti family purchased two neighbor estates, Château Clauzet and Château Tour de Pez, adding these to the Lilian Ladouys vineyard to almost double its planted area to 77 hectares. These additional vineyards are composed of gravelly soils of the same level as the best blocks of Lilian Ladouys. Soils are a typically Saint-Estèphe mix of sandy-gravel and clay with some limestone deposits. It is planted at 8,500-10,000 vines per hectare, with an average vine age of 36 years in 2019. Rating: 91-93 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Jun 2020)

Château Lilian Ladouys

This lovely Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in Saint Estèphe enjoys an enviable location on the Cos plateau, near to Calon, Montrose and Cos d'Estournel itself. The 80 hectare vineyard is 80% on gravel with a clay-limestone base, 20% on limestone-clay and is planted at 8500-10000 vines per hectare, with 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc.

The history of the estate can be traced back as far as 1654, when the property was in the ownership of Jacques de Bercoyan, a Bordeaux magistrate. By this time it was already known as La Doys, an obvious precursor to the Ladouys name of today.

The exciting modern history of the property began in 2008 when it was bought by Jacky Lorenzetti, and the family's investment was rewarded with the Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel classification in 2018. Since the purchase there has been many more deals to consolidate a coherent vineyard from the many parcels.

Lilian Ladouys is managed by Emmanuel Cruse, the consultant oenologist is Eric Boissenot. The work in the vineyard aims to make sure there is an even spread of bunches on the vines, and that these are well-ventilated (leaf-thinning). The earth is ploughed, with either sowing of ground-cover between the vines, or leaving nature to its own devices, depending on the vigour of each parcel. The grapes are harvested by hand, with sorting as bunches and again by grape after the de-stemming, after which the they go into the vats by gravity for a cold maceration prior to the fermentation. Extraction is managed by gentle délestage. The wine is aged in barrel, with 40% new wood each year.

The vineyard certified 'Haute Valeur Envionmentale' level 3. From 2020 they began conversion to organics with 20% of the vineyard, and all being well will complete conversion in 2023.

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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