2008 Château Le Dôme
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Tasting notes
Made from 75% Cabernet Franc and 25% Merlot, the 2008 Le Dome comes from a tiny site not far from Angélus and is made by Jonathan Maltus. This beauty boasts a deep ruby, opaque color as well as a seductive, forward style its black and blue fruits, lavender, spring flowers, and forest floor aromas and flavors. Incredibly elegant on the palate, with medium to full body, sweet tannins, not a hard edge to be found, and a great finish, it’s fully mature today (and drinking beautifully!) but will cruise for another decade in cold cellars. It’s unquestionably one of the more elegant, silky 2008s in this report.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The 2008 Le Dôme is turning into a really quite lovely Saint Émilion. Now at a decade old, this has arrived at a sweet spot, atypically quite classic in style. As I remarked in 2012 when I last tasted it, this Le Dôme sports earthy tobacco-tinged red fruit on the nose, the iodine and cassis element having ebbed away. There is wonderful freshness here, frankly, not a million miles away from Figeac in style. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, quite sensual in style with a fine backbone, open and generous, with commendable complexity on the finish. It is a little abrupt on the finish but otherwise, Jonathan Maltus and his team oversaw a quite delicious Le Dôme that is ageing with grace. (NM)
Some rather odd aromas on this. Then polished fruit but there is something a bit odd about it. And it turns in on itself on the finish. (JR)
Full medium ruby. Lovely cabernet franc perfume to the aromas of dark raspberry, graphite, flowers and licorice. Chewy, layered and sweet but tightly wound, with strong minerality and vibrant florality enlivening the middle palate. This really spreads out to dust the palate with flavor. Ultimately quite minerally and classically dry in spite of its full ripeness, and very long on the aftertaste. Leaves the taste buds vibrating. This singular wine is normally about 80% cabernet franc.
About the producer
The man behind highly regarded Saint-Émilion wine Le Dôme is a Nigerian-born Brit who sold his engineering firm in 1992 to move to Cahors and restore a pile of ruins. After meeting a local vineyard owner at a dinner party, he ended up selling his production to Oddbins and was caught by the wine bug.