2020 Château Lascombes Margaux Grand Cru Classé

History
The oldest known owner of Lascombes is the knight Antoine de Lascombes, who was born in 1625. In the 17th century, the domain was united with that of the Counts of Dufort. In the 18th century, Jean-François de Lascombes made quality improvements. After the Château passed into various hands, a certain Miss Hue became the owner. He sold it to the lawyer Chaix dEst Ange in 1867, who had the current building erected. Legendary Alexis Lichine bought Château Lascombes in 1952. He completely restructured the vineyard and winery, putting Lascombes back on the map. Later Lichine sold the Château to the British brewery Bass-
Charrington. The international investment company Colony Capital has been the owner since 2001 (including Hilton, Raffles, Accor and Carrefour). A fresh breeze is blowing and all sails have been added to restore the quality of the second cru. The new Lascombes team is led by general manager Dominique Befve (ex Lafite, Duhart-Milon and LEvangile) and Michel Rolland is an advisory oenologist.

Vineyard
The Château Lascombes vineyard has an area of 84 hectares and is planted with 35 year old vines of the Merlot (50%), Cabernet Sauvignon (45%) and Petit Verdot (5%) varieties. The soil is very different in composition, with three main types:
Lime clay and pebble sand for the merlot;
Silica and sand for the Cabernet Sauvignon;
Sandy soil for the petit verdot.
The vineyard was also overhauled from 2001. An individual soil study was made of each plot, which led to a restructuring of the plantings. Now the right grape varieties with the best lower stems are on the most suitable top and bottom soil. For example, 12 hectares were grubbed with cabernet sauvignon and replaced by merlot. This does mean that merlot has a more important share in the blend and that Lascombes distinguishes itself within the AOC Margaux. Leaf management gets all the attention. From the 2009 vintage, leaves were removed on the east side of the vines in June and July and on the west side at the end of August, while a green harvest took place at the end of June. The yield was reduced considerably: only 22 hl / ha in 2002, 36 hl / ha in 2003, 44 hl / ha in 2004, 40 hl / ha in 2005 and 36 hl / ha in 2006. The second wine is called Chevalier de Lascombes (formerly Château Ségonne). There is also a small amount of 3rd wine called Haut Médoc de Lascombes.

Harvest and vinification
During the harvest, a hundred pickers are deployed, who deposit the grapes in crates of 10 kilos. The equipment of the winery has been completely modernized with a four-story cuvier, which eliminates the need to pump. Before and after distortion, the grapes are selected by 30 people on perforated vibrating tables. No sulfur is put on the grapes. The selected grapes go in stainless steel trays on a conveyor belt to the 2nd floor, where they are crushed and cold soaked at 6-8 ° C for 7-10 days to extract color, fruit and aromatic complexity. Dry ice (carbon dioxide snow) is added for this. Then alcoholic fermentation at 28 ° C follows at 8 for a month
wooden, 24 stainless steel and some concrete tanks. In addition, the pump is pumped gently daily. The temperature during the soaking is 30 ° C. Microbullage is not done.

Cellar
We enter the spectacular first-year basement, which is shrouded in fluorescent blue halogen light. Malolactic fermentation takes place here at 21 ° C on French barriques, 80% of which are new every year. During the 4-month education on the fine lie, the lie is kept floating by rotating the barrels using the Oxoline system, which also prevents oxidation of the wine. Then the wine is crossed for the first time and then blended, all with gravity. The wine from 2009 is still in the underground second-year cellar. After bottling, the wine matures for another 6 months in the bottle, before going to trade. On balance, the wine is in cask for 18-20 months, crossing it every 3 months using compressed air, again to avoid pumping. At the end of the tour, we enter the treasure room, where large sizes of bottles from years gone by are located. The oldest is from 1881.