2016 Château Le Dôme

The 2010 Le Dôme has an open, quite mature bouquet with touches of cooked meat infusing the ferrous red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, quite savoury in style with good acidity and an almost Burgundy-like finish. Sedate and pretty, but not as long-term as its peers. A very commendable Le Dôme and yet not my definition of a "perfect" wine. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.

- Neal Martin (02/2020)

With ripe berries and decadent undertones, this wine is really alluring on the nose. Medium to full body, firm and silky tannins and a very, very pretty and energized finish. Yes. Drink in 2022. (02/2019)

The 2016 Le Dome is a brilliant, brilliant wine that does everything right. Sporting a saturated purple color, it has a huge perfume of blueberries, spring flowers, graphite, wet stone, and camphor. Incredibly layered and complex, with full body, building, ultra-fine tannins, a multi-dimensional texture, and a monster finish, it’s unquestionably one of the most flamboyant, sexy, opulent wines in the vintage yet stays ethereal, elegant, and weightless. Coming from a site not far from Angélus and a unique blend of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot from tiny yields, aged in 80% new oak, it has the class and fruit to shine even today but will be better with 3-4 years of cellaring and I suspect capable of lasting for 2-3 decades. (02/2019)

The 2016 Le Dome is medium to deep garnet colored. It opens with vibrant redcurrant jelly, kirsch, and blackberry pie scents, followed by hints of pencil shavings, sauteed herbs, and mossy tree bark with a waft of hoisin. The full-bodied palate is fantastically concentrated, featuring finely grained tannins and a lively backbone to support the rich red and black fruit preserves layers, finishing long and mineral-laced. (12/2022)

A grippy, tobacco-accented version, featuring a large core of red and black currant fruit, supported by a swath of bramble through the dense finish, picking up bittersweet cocoa and savory notes along the way. Muscular wine. Best from 2023 through 2036. 2,000 cases made.

- J.M.

The 2016 Le Dome is comprised of 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot, aged in 80% new French oak. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it slips sensuously out of the glass with compelling notions of red roses, candied violets, chocolate box and Chinese five spice with a core of kirsch, blackberry tart, warm plums, black raspberries and cloves plus wafts of cigar box and orange peel. Full bodied—the palate is positively electric with energy—it gives layer upon layer of perfumed black raspberries and mineral sparks, framed by super ripe, firm, finely grained tannins and bags of freshness, finishing very long and very fragrant. It has 15% alcohol, but so beautifully harmonious you would never guess it.

- Lisa Perrotti-Brown (03/2019)