Le Dome 2019 900cl

A rich, fragrant red with aromas of mulberries, dark plums, chocolate, cedar, cloves, mushrooms and cigar box. Crushed stone, too. Full-bodied with fine, creamy tannins. Polished and velvety with an intense, perfumed core of dark fruit. Better from 2026.

The 2019 Le Dôme was the last vintage vinified in the old winery before Norman Foster’s "spaceship" landed (the new winery is spectacular). I admire the aromatics here; the Cabernet Franc feels unrestrained and very expressive, almost Loire-like in style. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, nicely detailed, maybe less ostentatious than previous vintages – and all the better for it. This is an excellent Le Dôme that should offer two decades of drinking pleasure.

The 2019 Le Dome offers up rich aromas of jammy berry fruit, vanilla pod, caramel and milk chocolate. Medium to full-bodied, broad and velvety, it's seamless and polished, with an ample core of fruit, lively acids and a nicely integrated, harmonious profile that belies the overtly oaky and rather lactic nose. From the nose alone, the taster expects a monster; yet on the palate this Le Dome is actually surprisingly elegant, showing the results of a clear stylistic evolution over the last decade. Work on oak integration, however, remains to be done.