2011 Dominus
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Tasting notes
Coming from a cool, wet, incredibly challenging year, the 2011 Dominus is nevertheless a beautiful wine that exhibits a Bordeaux-like style in its darker fruits, foresty, damp earth, and herbal, cedary nuances, medium body, soft, supple mouthfeel, and resolved tannins. This elegant, silky, mature Dominus is in the middle of its prime drinking window and should hold nicely for another decade. It's nowhere near a great vintage for this estate, but it's clearly an outstanding wine, and Bordeaux lovers, as well as old school Napa lovers out there, will find plenty to love. It needs 30-45 minutes in a decanter to show at its best.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2011 Dominus is a bold, powerful wine. It opens with a huge bouquet redolent of dried herbs, licorice, spice, tobacco and espresso. Relative to most vintages of Dominus, the 2011 is a bit light, but compared to most wines of the year, it is pretty big! The cool, savory notes that are typical of the year are present, but not dominant, while the 2011 is marked by a distinctly red fruit profile.
The 2011 Dominus, which had the misfortunate to follow the virtually perfect 2010, is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc (5,000 cases produced). The late harvest began on October 15 and finished on October 24. This is an elegant Dominus with good opulence, a deep plum/garnet color, and notes of tobacco leaf, forest floor, underbrush, red and blackcurrants, plum sauce and Asian soy. Medium to full-bodied on the attack and mid-palate, it falls off slightly in the mouth (a characteristic of the 2011 vintage). It should be fully mature in another year or two, and last for 10-12 years. It is undoubtedly a success in this challenging vintage.
About the producer
Dominus Estate – the Napa property owned by Christian Moueix of Pétrus and La Fleur-Pétrus – has rapidly earned cult status.