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Château Le Dôme, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Bordeaux, France 2003 (750mL)
Regular price$175.00
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Château Le Dôme, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Bordeaux’s 2003 vintage polarized the critics, which, if you’re like me, means one thing: opportunity. Given how much influence critical pronouncements have on elite-level Bordeaux pricing, and given what we know about how great producers often pull off magical feats in challenging vintages, we know that (a) there are going to be some stunning successes lurking around out there, and (b) they’re going to be available at more-attractive prices.


Which brings me, of course, to today’s wine—an opportunity to acquire a top-tier Right Bank red approaching the two-decade mark in stylish, impeccably balanced fashion. This is everything we look for in a well-aged Grand Cru, and if you were tasting it blind, there’s no way you’d identify it as hailing from a heatwave vintage. While so many Bordeaux châteaux produced ultra-rich, early-drinking wines in ’03, Saint-Émilion’s deep limestone soils insulated Château Le Dôme’s vines and managed to maintain balance despite record temperatures. The 2003 Le Dôme oozes length, depth, and glamour—absolutely stunning and right in its prime drinking window. The wine’s heart still beats with muted fruit, iron, and violets while tertiary characteristics of leather and shiitake provide depth and exotic richness. It’s a collector’s bottle that doesn’t necessitate a collector’s patience. In fact, all this wine needs is a little air, a suitably great meal, and your undivided attention. Up to six per customer until it sells out!


Le Dôme’s Jonathan Maltus knows Bordeaux better than most. The mysterious mogul owns an assortment of properties scattered across the Right Bank, but none so celebrated as the venerable Le Dôme—his crown jewel. Founded in 1996, the château enjoys the same enigmatic reputation as its owner, often unrecognized by all but the most attuned Bordeaux connoiseurs. Le Dôme was born of the counterculture garagiste movement of the 1990s, but has proven to have incredible staying power due to the wine’s lasting quality and potential. It wasn’t until 2019 that an actual cellar was built (by architect Norman Foster, of Château Margaux repute) neighboring Château Angélus in Saint-Émilion. Le Dôme has developed a reputation for unparalleled depth, concentration, and poise over time...but still flirts with an ‘under the radar’  image. 



Temperatures consistently topped 100 degrees in the Summer of ’03, and even a brief rain in late August did little to alleviate the strain on the vines. Lucky for Maltus, his dense plantings of Cabernet Franc and Merlot averaged 50 years of age in 2003, and were therefore more resilient than those of neighboring estates with younger vines. In an effort to reduce yields, Maltus requires three green harvests a year to drop fruit and concentrate flavors in his three hectares. This rigorous culling allowed the vines to focus their limited energies on ripening the remaining grapes, while an early pick meant the deliberate preservation of natural acidity in the robust Cabernet Franc. 



Interestingly enough, Maltus is a famous lover of Cabernet Franc and it features as 80 percent of Le Dôme’s blend—one of the highest percentages in all of the Right Bank. The resulting blend is deeply rooted to the iron, sand, and limestone-rich terroir from which it springs. 2003 really pushed these vines to their limits, and those soils clearly enhanced natural acidity, lowered pH levels and counterbalanced the richness imparted by the heat. Vinification took place in temperature-controlled wooden vats, while malolactic fermentation occurred in barrel. The 2003 Dôme was aged in 80% new French oak barrels. 



The 2003 Le Dôme requires a little patience, if not decanting. Open the bottle and let it breathe for half an hour before pouring into big Bordeaux stems at a cool 60 degrees. The initial tightness relaxes and the full force of Le Dôme’s sensual, sumptuous aromas rise out of the glass. It’s a concentrated, deep red at the core with a brick-red rim; Le Dôme wears its age well. Aromas of roasted bell pepper mingle with a wonderfully feral whiff of game and iron. It’s the type of nose that could only ever belong to a perfectly mature Bordeaux—full of dust and electricity in equal measure. There’s still the barest hint of pressed flowers to balance out the animal notes, and fruit takes the form of prunes and raspberry liqueur. The predominance of Cabernet Franc is evident in notes of dried oregano and a little cedar, giving the whole glass a fantastic aromatic lift even at 17 years of age. Tannins are substantial, dusty and broad, creating a diffused finish that lingers in the cheeks as much as on the mind. I highly recommend food to silken their slight dryness. Try the aforementioned lamb lollipops without too much garnish; a little rosemary and garlic will do. The real pleasure of this wine is in its immediacy. Seize the moment, cook an incredible dinner and open this bottle tonight. It’s an incredibly sexy wine right this moment, and should be drunk with the intention to savor every last drop. It’s ironclad proof that sometimes the hardest years can produce something extraordinary!

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France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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