Le Dome
‘The Garagistes’
Change occurs slowly in Bordeaux, many would argue that very little has changed in centuries. However, in the 1990s, after Bordeaux’s right bank had been in something akin to the doldrums, a select group of independent and rebellious winemakers moved in and tipped the place on its head.
These winemakers began making ultra-small parcels of fruit-forward, highly concentrated, unconventional, but extremely attractive wines. They soon began to shake the very foundations of some enormously proud, traditional winemakers and were branded as ‘The Garagistes.’
These were people like Marcel and Gérard Thienpont of Le Pin in Pomerol, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud of Château Valandraud, Joseph-Hubert von Neipperg at La Mondotte, and of course, Jonathan Maltus at La Dome (all in Saint Emillion).
At first, they were often ridiculed by their more illustrious neighbours, but once the hundred-point scores from the world’s most influential wine writers started regularly rolling in, (and the wines were fetching stratospheric prices) then regions, institutions and indeed the entire wine world began taking serious notice. Today, several of them have transitioned from cult to iconic names in the wine industry and are considered leaders of their regions.
JCP Maltus
Johnathan Maltus is a British citizen born in Lagos Nigeria. He moved to England as a young man and then infuriated his father by chasing after a woman instead of a university degree. He worked around the corporate world for a little while, and by the age of twenty-one was running his own petrochemical company; which he then sold for a very tidy sum of money.
Soon after that, he was running around Cahors, where he offered to sell a producer’s wines in return for a winemaking education. He purchased the five-and-a-half-hectare property, Chateau Teyssier in 1994.
La Dome
Just two years after acquiring Chateau Teyssier, Maltus purchased a three-hectare vineyard that borders Saint Angelus, now known as Le Dome. Since their very first release, the wines of Le Dome have been revered for their extraordinary individuality, quality, and character.
The vineyard is now dedicated to eighty percent Cabernet Franc and the rest to old-vine Merlot. The vines were planted in the 1950s on sandy loams, over iron-rich soils. Vines are planted to remarkably high density so as to reduce yields, and green harvests are abundant to further reduce the crop and concentrate the fruit.
The architect Norman Foster, who redesigned the cellars at Chateau Margaux, was brought in to design the stunning new cellar at Le Dome, and the impressive, disk-shaped structure has become an instant landmark in the region.
The Tasting
Over a magnificent dinner by chef/owner Guy Baldwin, at his eponymous restaurant on Street 240 in Phnom Penh, Indigo owner and chef Michael Pataran, Pepe Steakhouse owner and industry legend Pepe Raimundo, raconteur, bon vivant and vigneron Frank Baroudi and my good-self, enjoyed an exceptionally fine selection of wines. Locally made burrata cheese, some of Pepe’s incredible smoked duck, and a tiny bottle of twenty-year-old balsamic were just a few of the culinary highlights.
The Wine
Le Dome, Saint Emilion, Vintage 2018, 80% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot
Aromas are of espresso, mocha, nuanced spices, forest berries, (blueberry, mulberry, blackcurrant) and a whiff of smoke, with sage and cigar box in there as well. The bouquet is complex, alluring, shedding another veil with every whirl and spin.
The wine slides onto the palate seamlessly, beguiling, a basket of berries and goodies from the forest, gliding in on silken wings. There are layers of complex and attractive fruit here, the energy alone would be heady stuff, if not for the poise and elegance this wine possesses. The fruit quality is impeccable, the winemaking and finesse commendable, the wine itself …breathtaking.
Nature and art here, somewhere between Lourdes and the Louvre, I considered it a masterpiece. For lovers of Cabernet Franc, (kissed on the cheek by some beautiful old vine Merlot) this is about as fine as it is ever likely to get.
98/100
Darren Gall
