100pts Jeb Dunnuck
Tasted on multiple occasions and one of the legendary wines in the making from this vintage, the 2022 Château Larcis Ducasse clocks in as 86% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc that's still resting in 55% new French oak. A hypothetical blend of the 2005 and 2018, it's a deep, powerful, opulent Saint-Emilion offering an incredible array of black cherries, blackberries, smoked tobacco, chocolate, and graphite-driven aromas and flavors. With a rich, full-bodied, expansive mouthfeel, it has ultra-fine tannins, beautiful symmetry in its tannins, acidity, and fruit, no hard edges, and a killer finish. I was lucky enough to taste this on four separate occasions and I thought it had the potential to be a perfect wine every time.
99pts James Suckling
This is really precise with a lazer-guided fine tannin structure throughout the wine, and juicy and electric texture. It’s so refined and polished. Endless. Wonderful young wine with a terrific future.
16.5 Jancis Robinson
86% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc.
Quite a complex, interesting nose. Really juicy and already approachable! You really have to dig deep for the tannins. Lots of drive here and early accessibility. Fun, with a long, pretty finish but perhaps it's not a long-distance runner. (JR)
96-98pts Vinous
The 2022 Larcis Ducasse is a huge, inky wine. A firm backbone of structure lies behind all of that opulence, yielding a wine that is both extravagantly rich and super-classic. That’s a pretty appealing combination in my book. Dark red-toned fruit, spice, leather, tobacco, incense and mocha emerge, but only with great reluctance. The 2022 is packed to the core. I don’t imagine it will be ready to drink anytime soon, but is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. The blend is 84% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Franc, a bit more Franc than usual, aging in equal parts 225- and 500-liter barrels. Tasted four times.
97pts Decanter
Smells gorgeous, black fruits, milk chocolate and floral notes. Supple and lively, crystalline and pure, you get both the juicy, fleshiness of the dark and concentrated fruit but with tension and detail and definition. Clarity and bite, this really works and delivers everything you want in terms of tannins, minerality, freshness and density. Controlled and purposeful and keeps a quiet confidence and strong intensity the whole way through. Clearly powerful, but refined and sophisticated. Compelling, darkly seductive and oh so drinkable. A fantastic wine in the making.
96pts Jane Anson
You feel the fingerprint of the limestone here, from a team that is never afraid of austerity in a young wine is young. It opens to show creamy black and red fruits, with steely acidity that keeps the ripeness in check. 34hl/h yield, 50% new oak and for the rest 500l casks for ageing.
95+pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Less super-ripe than was sometimes the case in the past, the 2022 Larcis Ducasse has a completely seductive bouquet of cassis, mulberries, licorice, pencil lead and menthol, combining beautiful spices and dark berries. Medium to full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's seamless and concentrated with a multidimensional core of fruit, velvety tannins, a vibrant mid-palate and a long, saline finish.
