Château Lascombes 2024 en Primeur

Blackcurrant, dark cherries, lovely bramble fruit - crystalline purity on the nose. Clean and silky, sleek and svelte, definitely light footed but with clarity and bright, zingy acidity giving a touch of austerity and salty, minerality on the finish. Complex and layered with structure and lots of elegance and nuance. Axel Heinz director. A yield of 38hl/ha. 5% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 3.64pH. Ageing 60% new oak. 5% press. Julien Viaud consultant.

Based largely on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and aging in 60% new oak, the 2024 Château De Lascombes is deeper hued than the Chevalier de Lascombes and offers more cassis, graphite, classy oak, and scorched earth. Medium-bodied, it has remarkable purity, ripe, building tannins, solid mid-palate depth, balance, and length. It's another brilliant effort by technical director Axel Heinz at this château that's up there with the crème de la crème of the vintage.

A touch of warm bread, graphite and fresh blackberries with a touch of black pepper. Richer and more concentrated than many from this vintage, this has excellent depth, full body and very complete, fine-grained tannins. Long, broad and juicy. 65% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot and 5% cabernet franc and petit verdot combined. Around 60% new oak with lighter toast now.

The 2024 Lascombes was picked between September 23 and October 9 according to ripeness levels in parcels at 38 hl/ha. This vintage is aged in barrels with less heavy toasting (60% new), 80hl foudres and amphora. The wine is usually finished in the last two or three months in those foudres, though Axel Heinz said that might be omitted this year. It has an elegant and pure bouquet with bright black cherry and cassis fruit. There is remarkable underlying mineralité in this wine. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, quite crisp and linear like many other Margaux wines. Light on its feet and very fresh with impressive precision on the finish, the 2024 is a "nimble" Lascombes that you would never have seen in the 1990s or 2000s. This is a very commendable, classically-styled wine that will give pleasure after three or four years. Neal Martin.

Aromas of cassis, lilac and nicely integrated creamy new oak introduce the 2024 Lascombes, a medium to full-bodied, dense and youthfully structured young wine underpinned by a bright spine of acidity and concluding with gently chewy tannins. This was cropped at 38 hectoliters per hectare and saw a combination of tank bleeds and reverse osmosis to amp up its concentration. Maturation is in 60% new oak, with lighter toasts than was formerly the case at this address.

Dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, subtle brightening on the rim. Delicate notes of nougat and oak, wild black berries, soft notes of cassis and blackberries. Juicy, elegant, red berry texture, fresh structure, mineral, a hint of currant on the finish, has ageing potential.