1964 | Château Lascombes | Margaux

Detailed Description

This is the 1964 vintage of its grand vin, which exudes notes of saddle leather, blackberry and a touch of liquorice.

Producer Information

Château Lascombes is a well-regarded and critically well-received wine estate in the Margaux appellation of the Haut-Médoc, just north of Bordeaux city. The estate produces a classic Bordeaux Blend wine known for its deep colour, rich texture, ripe fruit and elegant tannic structure. It was ranked a second growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. The vineyard is situated in the northwest of the appellation, neighboring châteaux Labégorce, Ferrière and La Gurgue. The château building and winery are in northern Margaux town, just one kilometer (0.6 miles) west of Château Margaux. The estate vineyards cover 120 hectares (nearly 300 acres) in Margaux with a parcel of ten hectares (25 acres) in the Haut-Médoc appellation. It is one of the largest wine estates in the wider region. The vineyard has three distinct parts of roughly equal size; a gravelly mound on which Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot are planted; a clay-gravel area of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon; and clay-limestone plots better suited to Merlot. Unusually for Margaux, Merlot accounts for around 50 percent of plantings with Cabernet Sauvignon playing second fiddle along with a small amount of Petit Verdot. Despite this, the grand vin tends to feature around 55 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery is built on four levels to allow the use of gravity flow systems. Wood and stainless steel vats of differing sizes allow the crop to be vinified plot by plot and variety by variety. The Château Lascombes grand vin is aged for 18 to 20 months, using a barrel rotation system to keep the lees in suspension, giving the wine more texture without allowing extra air contact. The estate has a long association with renowned consultant winemaker Michel Rolland. Around 300,000 bottles of Château Lascombes are produced per year, with around half as much of the second wine Chevalier de Lascombes, which is blended from batches of wine not selected for the top wine. Around 20,000 bottles of Haut-Médoc de Lascombes are produced from the vines outside of Margaux. In the 1980s and 1990s another second wine, Château Segonnes, was made from specific plots within the estate. The estate dates back to the 17th Century and its name comes from the original owner, the Chevalier de Lascombes. While some vestiges of the original building remain, much of the current château dates back to the 19th Century. The property has seen numerous owners over the years, including prominent Bordeaux figure and wine writer Alexis Lichine and US-based investment firm Colony Capital. It was purchased by current owners, the French health insurance group MACSF, in 2011 for a reported €200m sum.